More migrants to return to a more stable Syria: Erdoğan

As the recent dialogue between Türkiye, Russia and Syria yields results, the number of Syrian refugees returning to their homeland will increase, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said on Jan. 11.

"As the security environment in northern Syria improves, the return of Syrians to their homes is accelerating," Erdoğan said at the International Ombudsman Conference.

Reminding that Türkiye had started to build briquette houses in northern Syria for returnees, Erdoğan said they wanted these people to live humanely in their country.

"We wanted to save these people from the tents in snow and winter. We wanted to prepare a humane way of life for them by placing briquettes in houses," he stated.

So far, approximately 550,000 refugees have returned to the regions that Türkiye has cleared of terrorism and made safe, Erdoğan emphasized.

"These numbers will increase as the diplomatic contacts we, as Türkiye, Russia and Syria, have been carrying out for a while bear fruit. We will continue to fulfill our duty of brotherhood, neighborliness and humanity," he said.

Citing the education ban imposed on females in Afghanistan by the Taliban rule, Erdoğan said, "We find the recent understanding of preventing head-scarved girls from being educated in universities and schools in Afghanistan inhumane and un-Islamic."

"Girls [in Afghanistan] should receive an education. Nobody should define or tell us anything that prevents them from Islam. Islam does not accept such a thing," he said.

The president also expressed criticism of international actors' for not taking any steps against "those who persecute refugees."

"We continue to defend human rights not by word, but by taking responsibility and we will continue to do so. We...