ANKARA — Turkish authorities estimated this week that more than 30,000 Syrian refugees have returned to their home country following the two devastating earthquakes that struck southern Turkey and northern Syria, but the UN's refugee agency told Al-Monitor that their right to return should remain unhindered under legal protection status.

Turkey’s Defense Minister Hulusi Akar said Thursday that the temblors have unleashed a Syrian exodus from Turkey. “Syrian nationals are returning to their country. The number was initially at 10,000. We’ve now learned that the number has reached 30,000 and it keeps increasing,” Akar said. 

Selin Unal, spokesperson for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), stopped short of confirming the number to Al-Monitor, citing the agency’s absence at the border crossings between Turkey and Syria, but said that some Syrians were merely visiting their homeland and intend to return.

Unal told Al-Monitor, “Some of the Syrians living in [Turkey] also lost their families, friends, neighbors, and beloved ones inside Syria and might be willing to check on family and to attend burials and funerals.”