Cavusoglu: We want to safely return Syrians to regime areas as well

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said that Ankara seeks to safely return Syrian refugees in his country to regime-controlled areas as well, not only to what he described as safe areas in northern Syria.

Cavusoglu said in a television interview on Friday evening that about 553,<> Syrians had returned to the areas entered by the Turkish army in northern Syria. "We want to return Syrians to regime-controlled places as well, not just safe areas," he said.

The Turkish minister pointed out that the issue was addressed with the Syrian regime within the framework of the quadripartite track, which also includes Russia and Iran.

He added: "We agreed at the recent meeting of foreign ministers in Moscow to prepare the infrastructure in order to send Syrians safely to places controlled by the regime, and we decided to form a committee at the level of deputy ministers with the participation of the relevant institutions as well."

He pointed out that the bulk of Syrians in Turkey want to return to their country, and stressed the need to implement this process within the framework of international and Turkish laws.

In the final communiqué of their meeting in Moscow on May 10, the foreign ministers of Turkey, Russia, Iran and Syria announced their agreement to facilitate the guarantee of the return of Syrians to their homeland "in a voluntary, safe and honorable manner."

Thanks to brick house projects in Idlib province in northwestern Syria, and the Euphrates Shield and Olive Branch military operations launched by Ankara in northern Syria with the support of Syrian opposition factions, the pace of return of Syrian refugees from Turkey to their country has accelerated.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said last Thursday that state institutions and civil organizations have built brick houses in northern Syria (to house displaced people and returning refugees), and that work is underway to build new homes that can accommodate about one million Syrians, with Qatari support.

The number of Syrian refugees in Turkey is about 3.4 million who fled their country to its northern neighbor after the outbreak of the revolution in Syria in 2011 and the regime's use of force against demonstrations demanding his departure.