As a donors’ conference for Syria kicked off in Brussels on Thursday, Türkiye urged the international community to cooperate to safely ensure the return of Syrian refugees to their country. Faruk Kaymakcı, Türkiye’s permanent delegate to the European Union, represented Türkiye at the event and thanked the EU for holding the conference, "an important platform to support Syrians and neighboring countries hosting Syrian refugees."

The Turkish representative said that the Feb. 6 earthquakes that struck both Türkiye and Syria and claimed thousands of lives laid bare the urgency of the situation in terms of maintaining stability in Syria and accelerating the political process to that extent. "Implementing U.N. Security Council Resolution 2254 is the way to resolve the Syria issue," he said, referring to the resolution that calls for a road map for a political settlement and cease-fire in war-torn Syria. "Support of the international community and its participation in the process is needed more than ever," he said.

Donor nations from across the globe were scrambling to find billions of dollars to extend their aid commitment to millions of Syrians who have been battered by hunger, poverty, civil war and earthquakes. Amid pressing needs across the globe, from Ukraine to Sudan, the annual donor conference hosted by the EU in Brussels has even more political overtones as Syria’s Bashar Assad is slowly carving his way back from being an international pariah to the regional mainstream. Finding hard cash, though, remains key.

"My appeal is simple: Help us help the Syrian people. We are asking for $11.1 billion, our largest appeal worldwide," U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said. "We have no time to spare."

Funding from the conference will help provide aid to Syrians in the war-torn country and to some 5.7 million Syrian refugees living in neighboring countries, particularly Türkiye, Lebanon and Jordan. But for nations hit by economic difficulties, a surge in inflation that has hurt the poor in even the wealthiest nations and the seemingly hopeless situation that drags on in Syria’s 13-year conflict, money is increasingly hard to come by. Guterres said that because of the funding crisis, drastic aid cuts would affect the 5.5 million people in Syria who have been receiving food assistance. "Our cash assistance will run out for 2.5 million Syrians next month alone," Guterres said, calling it "priority number one." The crisis is also hitting the neighboring nations, which host some 5.7 million refugees and are facing economic crises of their own. Some say their support for refugees might be changing in the light of any funding squeeze. Jordan's Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi, a country that hosts about 1.3 million Syrians, said: "Handling the burden of refugees is a partnership between donor states and host states. If the donor states cannot play its role, it cannot expect the host states to do so either."

The pledging conference comes at a politically precarious time. Assad recently received a major political lifeline with the return of Syria to the Arab League. Several countries neighboring Syria, led by Saudi Arabia, have been holding talks with it to resolve the war-torn country’s ongoing security and economic crisis, hoping that it would lead to mass refugee returns. However, Josep Borrell, the foreign policy chief of the 27-nation EU, insisted that the bloc would not change its policies toward Assad, including maintaining sanctions against his regime. "We are not on the same line as the Arab League. That’s clear," Borrell said. He added, however, that he would be interested in what the league could achieve with its new position.

At last year’s conference in Brussels, donors pledged $6.7 billion, falling billions short of the U.N.’s $10.5 billion appeal, split almost evenly to assist Syrians inside the country and refugees. A new pledging total from the 57 nations and 30 international organizations participating in the conference is expected late Thursday or Friday.

Faruk Kaymakcı noted the vital importance of cross-border aid for Syrians in the country’s northwest and said Damascus’ approval of opening two more border crossings with Türkiye for delivery of humanitarian aid was "pleasing," adding that they hoped the vital access would remain in place in the long run. He said Türkiye endorsed all international efforts under the U.N. guidelines for a political settlement and Ankara’s recent efforts to normalize relations with Damascus were among those efforts to revive the political process.

Return of refugees

Kaymakcı says that the progress in the political settlement would also pave the way for conditions that would encourage the safe and dignified return of Syrian refugees to their country. "It is not easy to help Syrian refugees; it is not easy to shoulder this burden on Türkiye, on our Lebanese, Jordanian, Iraqi and Egyptian friends forever. We expect our partners to concentrate on creating the conditions for the return of refugees, too," he said at the conference.

He also called upon developed countries to accept more refugees but added that the most permanent solution for displaced Syrians would be providing them with voluntary, safe returns. He also called for those countries to assist host countries like Türkiye by taking more and efficient measures to tackle the issue.

Kaymakcı noted that some 560,000 Syrians safely and voluntarily returned to Syria from Türkiye to areas in the war-torn country’s north where stability was maintained.

Also, speaking on cooperation between the EU and Türkiye on migration, particularly EU Facility for Refugees (FRIT) program, Kaymakcı said since 2016, the EU supplied 5 billion euros ($5.44 billion) for Syrian refugees in Türkiye and decided to allocate an additional 3 billion euros for 2021-2023 period, but that was "inadequate."

"We believe that Turkish-EU cooperation should continue as long as this crisis prevails and would like to emphasize the need for a more fair sharing of responsibility with Türkiye," he said.