After the fall of the Assad regime, the government led by the conservative party in Austria announced on Friday (December 13) that Austria will provide a “repatriation incentive” of 1000 euros (1050 dollars) to Syrian refugees to help them return to their homeland.
Prime Minister Karl Nehammer, a conservative, wrote on the social media platform X, “Austria will support Syrians who wish to return home by providing a 1000 euro repatriation subsidy. Syria now needs its citizens to rebuild the country.”
Nehammer quickly reacted to Assad’s ouster on Sunday, stating that the security situation in Syria should be reassessed to allow for the repatriation of Syrian refugees.
However, forced repatriation is not possible until the future situation in Syria becomes clearer. Currently, the Austrian government has stated that the focus will be on voluntary repatriation. At the same time, Austria has suspended processing asylum applications from Syrians, a measure in line with more than a dozen European countries.
It is currently unclear how many Syrians will accept this subsidy.
According to information from the official website of Turkish Airlines, the price of a one-way ticket in economy class from Austria to Beirut is at least 1066.10 euros (about 1120.58 dollars). Beirut is a common starting point for traveling by land to Damascus.