TRANSCRIPT
Members of Greece's Syrian community celebrate at the Syntagma square in Athens.
It comes after the news of President Bashar al-Assad fleeing from Syria due to a surprise rebel uprising, bringing an end to decades of oppression.
Syrians who were forced to migrate to Greece, seeking shelter from the Assad regime, have expressed their relief that this dark chapter in their nation's history has come to an end.
"We are all grateful because this is the end of a very turbulent era for everyone in Syria. For 50 years, we were ruled by a junta dictatorship. Very bad things happened. We have been fighting for 14 years for freedom and elections, but unfortunately, we did not succeed. Today, yesterday, these last 10 days, an opposition party managed to overthrow Assad.”
But the fall of the Assad regime has left a vacuum in Syria's leadership, and with it, a sense of uncertainty for what's to come to the millions of migrants spread throughout Europe.
Greece was one of the countries to accept a large number of those asylum seekers, with refugee camps on islands such as Lesvos and Chios reaching capacity.
Data from the United Nations Refugee Agency shows that a total of over 50,000 people from Syria migrated to Greece.
Eva Savvopoulou is a Senior Communications Associate at the U-N Refugee Agency who spoke to
S-B-S News.
"During these last few years, over a million people passed through Greece, with their vast majority eventually seeking safety and shelter in other European nations. Right now, the (migration) wave is largely manageable. The population of Syrian migrants in the country, based on the figures we receive from Greek authorities, is amounted to around 22,700 people, taking into account that, based on the Ministry of Migration and Asylum, there are right now around 15,700 active residency visas of recognised migrants and there are still about 7,000 people waiting for their asylum appeals to be assessed."
A few days after the news of Assad fleeing to Russia was made public, a number of European countries announced they were putting asylum applications from Syria on hold.
Greece was among them.
It comes as a harsh reality check for thousands of Syrians who have been caught in the limbo of uncertainty for what's to come.
In a written statement to S-B-S, Greek Deputy Minister for Migration and Asylum Sofia Voultepsi says E-U nations must wait to see what the new leadership of Syria will look like.
"The Assad regime was an oppressive regime, a political dictatorship. The issue now is if from a political dictatorship, Syria will move on to a theocratic dictatorship, where the political Islam, that doesn't accept ideas with which it disagrees, will become the dominant force. As of yet, the European Union remains unconvinced and it is possible that many migrants may think that they remain at risk. We are not in a position to know the future and so we need to be patient. And we are always concerned, because no matter what happens in our region, it has an effect on the migration and refugee issues."
Many Syrians have already become part of the society in the countries they've migrated to.
Some have already found jobs, learned the language and even had children, raising the next generation of Syrians with a mixed European heritage.
For them, while the news of Assad fleeing the country is welcome, the thought of going home is no longer something that occurs to them.
But for others, who still struggle to survive, returning home is simply unachievable.
Manos Fragkioudakis, reporter for Greek website News247.gr, says the Greek government has not been able to support the efforts of those wishing to repatriate.
"To date, only two Syrians have been recorded as voluntarily declaring their desire to return to their country after the fall of the Assad regime. It will certainly be interesting to see how the government handles the issue. Despite the fact that the vast majority of Syrians who entered Greece since the great refugee crisis of 2015 and have been granted asylum and have now moved to Europe, Greece has not been able to achieve much in its attempts to organise the return of asylum seekers to their countries of origin. Despite this, the government never took the necessary initiatives to integrate them."
Initial optimism for mass returns of Syrian migrants back home has quickly turned to scepticism, with many organisations waiting to see the developments in the country.
The U-N-C-H-R's Ms Savvopoulou says while some migrants are taking the chance to go back to Syria, there are still others moving in the opposite direction.
"As the situation remains highly uncertain and precarious, millions of refugees in the region, as well as Greece, are examining very carefully if it is safe to make such an attempt (return to Syria). Some in the neighbouring nations appear willing and we have heard reports of a rise in spontaneous returns of migrants, mainly from Türkiye and Lebanon, towards Syria. But there are still thousands who continue to be displaced from the country and are heading the opposite way."
There are also members of the Syrian migration wave who believe this situation could lead to further instability for their country.
Syrian Community of Athens president Kyriakos Batsaras says he doesn't share in his fellow Syrian's belief in the rebels that caused the fall of the Assad regime.
He says they could create a new threat for the country.
"People need to be optimistic and it's good that they have faith. But not me, as a third party, as someone who has suffered through genocide from all those jihadists who in one night were given the identity of liberators. Where was the mistake? When they convicted their leader (Abu Mohammed al-Jolani, Syrian rebel leader) for 10 million dollars or now, when they're calling him a revolutionary? When was the mistake? Because it's the same person."
Over the weekend, a meeting between high-ranking officials from Europe, the U-S, the U-N and the Middle East was held to discuss the future of Syria.
It was commonly agreed that the nation must be supported to avoid the rise of radical elements to power.
Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan has pointed out the importance of the situation, adding that any mishaps could lead to new waves of migrants towards Europe.
"International community should provide Syria with necessary political support and humanitarian assistance on all these issues. We can never allow terrorism to take advantage of the transition period. We have to coordinate our efforts and learn from the mistakes of the past. Any misstep might lead to irregular migration flow."
Greek Deputy Minister of Migration and Asylum Sofia Voultepsi has told S-B-S any new leadership in Syria will need to demonstrate that they have the wellbeing of all people in mind equally.
"We, as all European nations, are evaluating the situation in Syria and we are faithfully following the Geneva convention regarding the status quo with the migrants. The new leaders of the order of things (in Syria) will need to prove with their actions that they respect the rights of minorities, Christians and women."
