Turkey plans to return 2mn refugees to northern Syria – FM

Turkey plans to return at least two million refugees to northern Syria, where Ankara conducted Operation ‘Peace Spring,’ Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu has said.

He made the statement on Tuesday after talks in the Astana format with his Russian and Iranian counterparts, Sergey Lavrov and Mohammad Javad Zarif, TASS reported.

“This return should be safe, it should be carried out in accordance with international law, as well as in coordination with UN agencies,” Cavusoglu said in Geneva. “We think that two million refugees may return.”

Cavusoglu called the launch of the Syrian Constitutional Committee “a big and brave step forward” in the process of political settlement in Syria. The committee holds its first session on Wednesday.