Ankara is aiming to form safe zones in northern Syria so that around 4 million Syrian refugees hosted by Turkey can return, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Monday. Erdogan also said in Istanbul that nearly 300,000 Syrians had already returned and that he expected millions of Syrian nationals would return to the safe areas, Reuters reports. US President Donald Trump announced in December the withdrawal of all US troops from Syria, and Erdogan subsequently said they had discussed setting up a 20-mile-deep safe zone in Syria along the border.