Syrian Turkmen return home after Assad regime's fall

Ethnic Turkmen in Syria are rejoicing at the opportunity to return to their homes after the fall of the Assad regime.

Speaking to Anadolu, Turkmen Ziyad Akca shared his mixed emotions, expressing both joy at returning home after years of displacement and sorrow over the devastation suffered by his village.

Akca, who had been displaced to the city center of Latakia, a Syrian coastal city, returned to his native village of Kulcuk after more than a decade of displacement.

“It's been 13 years since we last came to our village,” Akca said.

“I returned to my father's house; it's destroyed. The house I built is gone. My uncle's house is also in ruins.”

During his 13-year separation from Kulcuk, Akca said he endured life in an unjust and lawless environment, stripped of his freedom.

The village he returned to after so many years is in desperate need of assistance, he said.

The homes in the village have been left roofless and destroyed, with furniture looted from inside, he added.

Akca said he was unable to even recognize his own house upon his return.

He described the oppressive treatment he endured at the hands of regime forces, who forcibly packed people into homes and subjected them to harsh treatment.

“A human being wouldn't do this. You're not a person next to them; you're a slave. You can't speak out. We're Turkmen. There is no justice or rights for us.”