Refugees return to Tal Abyad after Turkey border reopens

Hundreds of refugees who fled fighting in the Syrian town of Tal Abyad to Turkey were returning home on Monday after a border gate reopened, a Turkish official said.

Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) militia ousted Daesh (IS) jihadists from Tal Abyad after fighting that prompted some 23,000 Syrian refugees to flee into Turkey.

Turkish authorities claimed that YPG had closed the gate on the other side of the border after briefly opening it on Wednesday. The YPG denied this was the case.

"Refugees have been crossing back into Syria since this afternoon after the YPG re-opened the border," said an official from the office of the Turkish prime minister.

The official did not indicate how many refugees had returned but the Dogan news agency put the number at 500.

After fierce fighting for control of the town earlier this month, the security situation has now calmed since the Kurds took control, prompting a limited number of refugees to return.

Under an "open-door" policy championed by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Turkey has taken in 1.8 million Syrian refugees since the conflict in Syria erupted in 2011.

Turkey had expressed grave concerns over the Kurdish capture of Tal Abyad from IS, accusing the YPG of driving out Arabs and Turkmen, claims the group denied.
Source: AFP