When Turkish security forces detained Abdul Qader Basmaji in March this year, there was no way the Syrian refugee could still have made it to an ATM in Istanbul to withdraw his savings before he was taken to a deportation center.
A few days later, the 25-year-old arrived at the border between Turkey and Syria's northwestern region of Idlib.
Basmaji laughs bitterly when asked if he was compensated for losing his job, flat, friends and savings. "Nobody reimbursed me," he told DW in Idlib city, adding that at least the Turkish authorities hadn't requested that he'd cover the deportation costs himself.
Basmaji would try and return to his life as refugee in Istanbul any moment if only he had enough money to get back.
But ten years after fleeing from his home town Aleppo after protesting against Syrian President Bashar Assad, he finds himself back in Syria with no more than what he had in his pocket on the day he was detained.
"With a severe economic crisis, sanctions, lack of reconstruction, limited access to basic services and job opportunities, returning to Syria often means returning to square one," explained Nanar Hawach, senior analyst for Syria at the International Crisis Group, an independent organization working on the prevention and resolution of........