THOUSANDS OF SYRIAN REFUGEES IN TURKEY TRY TO GO HOME

Thousands of Syrian refugees in Turkey lined up at border crossings Wednesday in hopes of returning home temporarily after Syrian border officials announced that Turkey had agreed to let the refugees leave and return later while it copes with a pair of disastrous earthquakes.

Many of those crossing at three border posts were carrying suitcases, plastic bags and potato sacks holding whatever personal belongings they had been able to salvage from destroyed homes. Most of their faces didn’t reflect enthusiasm: They were leaving one disaster zone for another.

The Syrian administration of Bab al-Hawa, one of the main border crossings from Turkey into an opposition-held territory in northwestern Syria, announced via social media that Turkey would allow refugees living in the earthquake zone to return to their homeland for three to six months and then come back to Turkey.

Turkish officials could not immediately be reached for comment. But if confirmed, this would be a policy shift by Turkey, albeit under extraordinary circumstances. Turkey hosts about 3.7 million Syrians and has tightly controlled the border with Syria for years to prevent more refugees from coming in.

Most of the Syrians who have returned home in the past few years risked not being allowed back into Turkey.

“We have no other choice but to go to Syria,” Younis alSaeed, a 29-year-old father of two, said as he stood in the line on the Turkish side of Bab al-Hawa. “But of course there is a fear that Turkey won’t allow us to return. We can’t guarantee it.”

Mazen Alloush, a spokesperson for the Syrian side of the Bab al-Hawa crossing, said there were about 1.7 million Syrians living in the Turkish areas devastated by the earthquakes, which killed more than 41,000 people in Turkey and Syria and left millions homeless in the two countries.

Syria has been carved up into different zones of control during a 12-year civil war that has still not ended. The Bab al-Hawa crossing is administered by a Syrian opposition group that controls part of the country’s northwest.

Alloush said that the local government linked to that opposition group had met with Turkish officials. Turkey decided to allow Syrians to go home temporarily, then return later, as it recovers and rebuilds, Alloush said.