Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said yesterday that more than half a million Syrians who fled the civil war in 2016 have returned to their homeland.

"Since our cross–border operations in Syria (in 2016), about 526,000 volunteers have returned to the safe zones we created," Erdogan said in the Turkish parliament.

In recent months, the head of state has stated that preparations are underway for the voluntary return of a million Syrian war refugees to their homeland. According to Erdogan, Ankara's goal is to encourage them to return to the so–called safe zones located on the border between Turkey and Syria, where housing and local infrastructure will be built for them.

About 3.7 million Syrian war refugees officially live in Turkey.

Less than nine months before the presidential election, their presence in Turkey has become a sensitive political issue, especially given how difficult it is for Ankara to cope with the economic and financial crisis.

Opposition parties are constantly calling on the authorities to send millions of Syrians back to their homeland.

The civil war in Syria, which began after the brutal suppression of anti-government protests in 2011, claimed almost half a million lives and forced about half of the pre-war population to leave their homes.

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