Syrian refugees should return home:Turkish party leader

By Muhammet Emin Avundukluoglu

ANKARA

To stem the tide of newcomers and encourage other Syrian refugees to leave, Turkey should announce that it will not offer Syrian refugees citizenship, according to a Turkish opposition party leader.

"This will provide that some of them will return [to Syria] and will also block those coming to our borders with dreams of citizenship," Meral Aksener, head of the opposition Good () Party, told her party's parliamentary group on Tuesday.

Aksener also urged the government to reach an agreement with Syrian regime leader Bashar al-Assad on the Syrians returning to their country.

"You should get a commitment from Damascus for the return of at least 100,000 Syrians every month," she said.

Turkey hosts some 4 million refugees from Syria -- more than any country in the world -- out of around 5-6 million total.

Syria has only just begun to emerge from a devastating conflict that began in 2011 when the Assad regime cracked down on demonstrators with unexpected ferocity.

By Muhammet Emin Avundukluoglu

ANKARA

To stem the tide of newcomers and encourage other Syrian refugees to leave, Turkey should announce that it will not offer Syrian refugees citizenship, according to a Turkish opposition party leader.

Aksener also urged the government to reach an agreement with Syrian regime leader Bashar al-Assad on the Syrians returning to their country.

"You should get a commitment from Damascus for the return of at least 100,000 Syrians every month," she said.

Turkey hosts some 4 million refugees from Syria -- more than any country in the world -- out of around 5-6 million total.

Syria has only just begun to emerge from a devastating conflict that began in 2011 when the Assad regime cracked down on demonstrators with unexpected ferocity.