European migrant crisis

More than 30,000 Syrian refugees have crossed the Turkish border to return to their country in the past 17 days, Turkish Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya said today.

The Turkish Trade Ministry has issued a directive facilitating the border crossing process for Syrians returning with various belongings, ranging from personal possessions and vehicles to monetary assets and valuable jewelry.

Eight bodies have been recovered and eighteen people rescued after they fell into the sea from a speedboat carrying undocumented migrants during a chase off the eastern coast of the Aegean island of Rhodes on Friday.

The UNHCR High Commissioner for Refugees estimates that one million Syrian refugees are likely to return to Syria between January and June 2025 after the fall of Bashar al-Assad and his regime.

More than 7,600 Syrian migrants crossed the Turkish border to return home in the five days after the fall of Syrian strongman Bashar al-Assad, Turkish Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya has announced.

Yerlikaya listed the total number of Syrians "who returned voluntarily from Türkiye" each day between Dec. 9 and 13, with the five-day figure totaling 7,621 migrants.

The death toll from the capsizing of a boat loaded with migrants off the southern coast of Crete rose to five on Saturday evening, the Greek coast guard said, adding it had rescued 39 people from the sea.

Debates over the asylum claims of Syrian refugees in our country and across Europe have been sparked from the first moment the fall of the Assad regime. The asylum application process is temporarily “frozen” for thousands of Syrians who are in our country, as the main argument for their asylum applications, persecution by the Assad regime, may be unfounded.

Greek authorities have recovered the body of a man and rescued 39 migrants from the sea after their boat capsized off the southern island of Gavdos in the Mediterranean, its coastguard said on Saturday.

The Austrian government has announced that it is offering Syrian refugees a “return bonus” of 1,000 euros to return home after the fall of the Assad regime.

Decisions on the examination of asylum applications of Syrian refugees fall within the competence of member states, Stefan de Kersmacher, the Commission spokesman responsible for migration issues, said today.