ANKARA (Dispatches) – Turkey’s top diplomat Hakan Fidan said Tuesday Ankara would reopen its embassy in Damascus when conditions allow following the ouster of Syrian President Bashar Assad.
At a gathering of Turkish diplomats in Ankara, Fidan was asked whether Turkey was planning to reopen its embassy in the Syrian capital, which closed a year into the civil war that began in 2011.
“We will look into it. We’ll wait for the conditions to be right,” he told delegates.
The embassy closed on March 26, 2012 due to the deteriorating security situation and amid calls by the Turkish government for Assad to step down.
Syrians who sought refuge in Turkey during the 13-year foreign-backed war in their home country continue returning to Syria following the fall of the government.
Lining up at the Oncupinar Customs Gate in Turkey’s southern Kilis province, Syrians are getting their procedures done at migration repatriation centers to return home.
The Turkish Red Crescent and Turkey’s Diyanet Foundation have set up catering tents for returning Syrians, while Kilis Governor Tahir Sahin inspected the work at the border crossing.
“The war is over and we’re returning to our country,” Abdulkerim Farriz, who was a doctor in Syria and took refuge in Turkey nine years ago, told Anadolu.
Ibrahim Guzel, who came from Syria 13 years ago, said that he was satisfied in Turkey, adding that that he had very nice neighbors and friends here and that he wanted to host them for a visit to his country.
Menal Naime, 10 years old, also thanked the Turkish people for hosting them.
Ali Farriz, for his part, stated: “I love here very much. I’m sad to leave Turkey, but I’m very happy to return to my country.”
During the war, some 4 million Syrians took shelter in Turkey, more than any other country in the world.