More than 50,000 have returned to Syria since Mr Assad's fall

Turkish Interior Minister Salam Yillikaya said Thursday that more than 50,000 Syrian refugees have left Turkey to return home since Assad's fall in December.

Speaking to reporters at the Gilvegozu crossing in Turkey's southern Hatay province on the same day, Yillikaya said 52,622 Syrians had returned home in a month.

Of those, 41,437 returned with their families, while 11,185 returned alone, he said.

As many as 3 million Syrians have fled to Turkey since the country's civil war broke out in 2011. With anti-Syrian sentiment running high in Turkish society, Ankara is keen to see as many refugees return home as possible.

Turkey shares a 900-kilometre border with Syria and has six border crossings, one of which was reopened last month to help Syrian refugees return home.

Yillikaya said last month that Turkey would set up a migration management office in Aleppo, Syria's second city.

According to the Turkish Interior Ministry, about 1.24 million Syrian refugees in Turkey, or about 42 percent, are from the Aleppo region.