Austria Offers 1,000 Euros For Syrian Refugees Returning To Their Hometowns

Syrian refugees on the Hungarian-Austria border. (Wikimedia Commons/Mstyslav Chernov)

JAKARTA - The Austrian government on Friday announced it would offer a "bous home village" of 1,000 euros (Rp. 16,811,000) to Syrian refugees to return to their home country after the fall of President Bashar al-Assad.

Conservative Chancellor Karl Nehammer reacted quickly to the overthrow of President Assad on Sunday, saying on the same day the security situation in Syria should be reassessed so as to allow deportation of Syrian refugees.

Deporting people they don't want is impossible, until it becomes clearer the direction Syria is taking.

For now, the Austrian government has said it will focus on voluntary deportation. The government has also stopped processing requests for asylum for Syrian citizens, as has been done by more than a dozen European countries.

"Austria will support Syrian citizens who want to return to their home countries with a bonus return of 1,000 euros. The country now needs its citizens to be rebuilt," Chancellor Nehammer said in an English post on X.

Like many conservatives in Europe, Chancellor Nehammer has come under pressure from the far-right group, with the two groups often looking to try to beat each other in immigration policies that sound harsh.

The Syrian citizen is the largest asylum seeker group in Austria, a member state of the European Union.

How many Syrians will accept the offer still have to be seen.

With the national airline Austrian Airlines having suspended flights to the Middle East due to the security situation, Austria's bonus may not even completely cover travel.

One-way economic class ticket within a month to Beirut, a common starting point for those heading for Damascus by land, currently costs at least 1,066.10 euros using Turkish Airlines, according to the company's website.