Risky return to the 'safe zone': Syrian refugees return home despite dangers

(Patria) – Some Syrian families who have spent the last five years in exile in neighboring Turkey have decided to return home despite numerous risks in the 'safe zone' on the Syrian side of the border.

Speaking to reporters from the British Guardian, returnee Ibrahim Hamad says he is happy that his house survived amidst heavy fighting in the border town of Tal Abyad.

In Hamad's hometown, the Syrian opposition, ISIL, US-backed Kurdish forces, and now Turkey and its proxies – Syrian rebels – have clashed.

- I decided to return because my house was not destroyed, the furniture is still there and has not been stolen, says Hamad (35), adding: 'I am trying to find a job. I heard that schools will be opening soon. I hope that will be the case because my two children go to primary school and I want them to continue their education.'

Hamad and his family are just one of the few refugee families who have voluntarily returned from Sanliurfa in Turkey. Human rights monitors believe that the so-called safe zone created by Turkish President Erdogan along the Syrian-Turkish border is anything but safe.

The Turkish President stated at the Global Refugee Forum in Geneva on Tuesday that 371,000 Syrians have already decided to leave Turkey and settle in a 'security belt' 30 km long on the Syrian side between the cities of Ras al-Ayn and Tal Abyad. Erdogan also announces the imminent return of another 600,000.

However, the announced number of returnees is disputed by Sara Kayyali from the human rights monitoring organization, Human Rights Watch.

She claims that there are still many obstacles to the safe return of Syrians, 'the ethnic dimension makes it difficult to verify the number of returnees,' and notes that 'some people are allowed to move freely, while others are not.' Kayyali also revealed that violence against the civilian population continues, such as home break-ins and looting, and even arrests.

Although the primary goal of the Turkish offensive was to push Kurdish fighters away from the Syrian-Turkish border, another equally important goal was to create a 'safe zone' that would allow the return of 2 million refugees to Syria. Turkey has received a total of 3.6 million Syrian refugees, which has put the government under great public pressure due to its own economic problems, such as a high unemployment rate.

However, the announced return of a large number of families to a relatively small area now under Turkish control is considered 'demographic engineering' and 'ethnic cleansing' by human rights activists and local Kurds, who claim that Syrian rebels are forcibly evicting Kurdish families from their homes and seizing their land and property, the Guardian writes.

While Turkey is buckling under the pressure of a huge number of refugees, Syrian families are in a big dilemma regarding their return due to the uncertainty of such a move, but aware that it will have to happen sooner or later.

- Even if we return, the part of Syria controlled by Turkey is as expensive as Turkey itself, and we would earn Syrian wages, says Milad, one of the potential returnees, to the Guardian, adding that 'a Turkish residence card is worth its weight in gold. Those who are here illegally or still living in camps are in the worst position. They have no one to turn to if Turkey decides to expel them.'