Syrian refugees trying to go home stuck at Turkey border

Refugees seeking to return to the Syrian town of Tal Abyad after fleeing fighting there last week were stuck on the Turkish side of the border Thursday amid conflicting accounts over who closed the frontier.

Turkish authorities said refugees were not able to cross because Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) militia had closed the gate on the other side of the border.

But the YPG, who now control Tal Abyad, denied they were responsible for the border closure.

"From our point of view, the border is open ... It's the Turks who closed the border from their side," YPG spokesman Redur Khali told AFP in Beirut, adding that people were continuing to return through unofficial crossing points.

Earlier this week the YPG ousted ISIS jihadis from Tal Abyad after fighting that prompted some 23,000 Syrian refugees to flee into Turkey.

Hundreds of Syrians returned home Wednesday as calm returned to their hometown. But Thursday some 200 others were unable to cross the border.

A Turkish official told AFP that while a total of 1,000 Syrians had returned home on Wednesday across the border, the YPG was not allowing any crossing on Thursday.

"The Turkish side has no objections" to opening the border, the official stressed....
 AFP
TV100F.COM
18/6/15
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