by Burak Akinci

ANKARA, July 1 (Xinhua) -- Yousouf Al Sharif, a 35-year-old furniture worker from Syria living in Ankara, is thinking about heading home with his children this summer. As the school year wraps up in Trkiye, more Syrian families are deciding to return, encouraged by the gradually improving situation in Syria.

"We didn't want to interrupt the kids' education. Now that school is over, we're thinking seriously about going back," he told Xinhua.

The Syrian man, who has worked in a small shop for the past eight years, came to Trkiye from Idlib in 2016.

"Trkiye gave us a chance to live in peace when my country was consumed by war," he said. "But home is home."

Trkiye's Vice President Cevdet Yilmaz recently announced that more than 273,000 Syrians have returned voluntarily from Trkiye following former Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's ouster in December 2024.

As of May 2025, Trkiye was still hosting approximately 2.7 million Syrian refugees, according to official figures.

Metin Corabatir, head of the Ankara-based Research Center on Asylum and Migration, said the current wave of returns is intensifying with the onset of summer.

"There is a slight increase, especially after the Eid al-Adha festival (in early June)," he said, noting that more Syrians are heading home with the gradual stabilization of the country.

To help refugees assess the situation in Syria before deciding whether to return home, the Turkish government has supported a program that allows them to check conditions firsthand.

Turkish Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya said in early June that 27,000 Syrians have taken advantage of this "go-and-see" policy and are now preparing for permanent return.

Earlier this year, Sharif visited his hometown in Idlib through this program.

"The situation was relatively better than I expected," he said. "Shops are open, and some services are working. My old house is damaged, but it can be fixed."

Recently, Sharif has started preparing the paperwork to transfer his children's school records, and he's also planning to open a small workshop in Syria if he can.

"I want to work and support my family, just like I did here. We are not expecting everything to be easy. But we believe we can manage," he said.

Corabatir, the migration expert, noticed that although the return process is gradually accelerating, most Syrian families residing in Trkiye are still adopting a wait-and-see approach. This caution stems from the ongoing challenges many returnees face, such as inadequate infrastructure and limited access to basic services.

"The return of all Syrians may take a couple of years," he said, adding, "Basic needs should be met, the economy should get back to work, job opportunities should be created, schools and hospitals should reopen. These goals have not been achieved yet."