Settlements..Part of Turkish occupation’s plans to nibble Syrian lands

The Turkish occupation state continues to build settlements at a high rate in the occupied areas, in the context of changing the region's demographics, in light of talk of deporting about one million "Syrian refugees" from Turkey and resettling them in the occupied north of Syria.

At the beginning of 2022, the Turkish occupation escalated the process of building settlements in northern Syria, especially in the areas of Afrin, Serêkaniyê and Girê Spî / Tal Abyad, with the support and funding of Qatari and Kuwaiti Brotherhood organizations.

 The number of settlements established by Turkey in occupied Afrin since the beginning of 2022 has reached more than 7, and in Şiye district on the Syrian-Turkish border, the Turkish occupation established two settlements, and in Janders district, the Turkish occupation established two settlements in the village of Muhammadiyah on the banks of the Afrin River, near the border  Syrian-Turkish, and in the village of Aghla in the same district, the Turkish occupation established a settlement, and another in the village of Kharza.

 The Turkish occupation also expanded the settlements it had previously established in the occupied canton of Afrin, in addition to building settlements in the occupied areas, starting from the city of Jarablus to the city of Idlib in northern Syria.

 In this regard, the Minister of the Interior of the Turkish occupation state, Suleiman Soylu, entered Syrian territory several times this year, and supervised the progress of the settlement building process in Syria, especially in the areas of Idlib, Afrin and Serêkaniyê.

 Soylu said in a meeting held in the capital, Ankara, to introduce Project 100, a settlement unit in Syria, noting that the number of settlement units in Syria reached about 60 thousand homes, in 259 points, and that the number of families that were resettled in the settlements reached 51 thousand, and 427  family, so far.

 At the beginning of June, the head of the Turkish occupation state, Erdogan, threatened once again in northern and eastern Syria, with an aggression against the areas of Tel Rifaat in al-Shahba and Manbij, west of the Euphrates River, under the pretext of protecting his "national security" and establishing a "safe zone" 30 km deep, inside Syrian territory.

According to the information, the number of settlement units in the city of Idlib reached 45,903, and about 14 thousand in the areas from Jarabulus to occupied Afrin.

 The Turkish occupation aims, through the establishment of a "safe zone" in Syria, to return the borders of the "Mili Charter" from the Mediterranean in the west to Mosul in the east, in order to revive the ambitions of the defunct Ottoman Empire.

 2013 The first steps of the Turkish occupation towards the forefront of settlement projects in Syria

 In a dangerous step of its kind, the Turkish occupation state established an association called “Al-Ata’ Association” in early 2013, which took charge of building settlement associations in northern Syria, all the way to areas in Idlib governorate.

 The idea of ​​settlement complexes was launched at the beginning of 2014 with housing units to develop after that to become settlement complexes, to settle families from most of the Syrian regions.

 In 2016, the “Al-Ataa” association established 520 housing units in the town of Atma, north of Idlib governorate, and the second residential settlement, Ata, included 748 housing units in 2017.

 The city of al-Bab in the eastern countryside of Aleppo and the city of Serêkaniyê had a share of the settlement blocs, as it included 250 housing units in the city of al-Bab, in addition to 200 housing units in the city of Serêkaniyê.

 In the city of Jarablus, in the eastern countryside of Aleppo, 260 housing units were built during the first phase.

 The second phase of the project, known as the "economic housing cluster", includes 540 housing units.

 As for the third phase, which included 800 housing units, it was attended by the deputy governor of the Turkish province of Gaziantep (Dilok), Turkish health and education directors and officials in local authorities and organizations.

The settlement project is located in the village of Al-Amarna in the countryside of Jarablus, on the main road, connecting it to all villages and towns of the city of Jarabulus.

 According to the local councils of the Turkish occupation, the number of settlement units in Jarablus during 2021 reached 3,500 housing units, and the establishment of a settlement complex in the city of Azaz with 400 housing units, in addition to 282 other units in Jarablus.

 Dozens of settlements established in the villages of the occupied canton of Afrin

 In the occupied canton of Afrin, the Turkish occupation state resorted to Qatari, Kuwaiti and European Muslim Brotherhood associations to build settlement complexes, under humanitarian names, including the "Living in Dignity Association - White Hands - White Helmets - Cooperative Society".

 Its first step, on November 15, 2018, was the establishment of a settlement complex called "The Levant Village", in reference to the mercenaries of the Levant Front, east of the occupied city of Afrin, on the mountain slopes west of the town of Maryamin, west of the city of Afrin.

 The Qatari "Al-Bayan" Association sponsored the establishment of a settlement complex in the village of Afrazah in the Mabata district in the occupied countryside of Afrin, in the square where the Nowruz celebrations were held.

 In the village of Haj Hasano, the Syrian Forum headed by Ghassan Hito, the former head of the mercenary's "Interim Coalition Government", announced that the so-called "Al Ihsan Relief and Development" Foundation, headed by Baraa Al-Samoudi, had started on April 2 of this year to implement a 247 building project.  A housing unit on a mountainous site known as "Jiai Choti" near Mount Qazqli in the vicinity of Kafr Safra village in Janders district.

In Şiye and Rajo district, the Turkish occupation worked to establish three settlement complexes along the border strip extending from the village of Jagla and the plain of Shadia village in Rajo district, with the support and funding of the mercenaries of "Sultan Suleiman Shah" (Amshat).

It also established between the village of Jiqla and Qarmtalq a settlement complex to settle 300 families of the families of mercenaries who fought in Libya.

 In the Yazidi village of Pavilion in Shera district, the Turkish occupation began on November 12, 2020, to work on the construction of a settlement complex that includes 70 housing units under the name "Cooperation Camp", with funding from Qatari and Kuwaiti Brotherhood associations.

 In the center of the occupied city of Afrin, the Turkish occupation authorities seized the records of the indigenous people in the Ashrafieh neighborhood owned by Mahmoud Kalash, Hanan Nasser and Muhammad Ali from the village of Qibar, in order to establish a camp for the families of mercenaries in it.

 In addition to the construction of apartments on the banks of the Afrin River in the city center on January 4, 2021, with the support and funding of "relief organizations".

 In the Shirawa district, the association called "Live in Dignity for the People of Palestine 48" has established a settlement complex that includes 99 housing units under the name "Basma", in the Yazidi village of Shadireh, to settle the Palestinian families brought by Turkey from the Palestinian camps in Syria, including the Yarmouk camp.

In the village of Khalta, in the Shirawa district, Turkey recently worked to establish a housing complex of 300 housing units under the name "Kuwait Al-Rahma", with the support and funding of Kuwaiti Brotherhood associations.

 The Turkish occupation has also deliberately settled the Turkmen families loyal to the Justice and Development Party along the border strip extending from the district of  Shera to Balbula, and from the district of Jandris to the district of Rajo, and the establishment of dozens of settlement complexes.

 Where settlements were built in (the village of Muhammadiyah and Deir Ballut in the district of Janders, in addition to the establishment of settlement units on the archaeological hill of Janders district and near the village of Yalanquz, the village of Jelma, Diwan Tahtani, Kulke and Iska) and is supervised by the Turkish “Afad” association.  Where it provides all financial and relief support to the settlers.

 In Rajo district, the occupation established a settlement in the village of Maidan Akbis, which is located on the border strip with Turkey.

 In Bulbul district, the occupation established 7 settlements in the district to settle families brought by Turkey from most areas. Last year, Turkey brought 30 families under Russian sponsorship from Umm Batna village in Quneitra governorate.

 According to the Afrin-Syria Human Rights Organization, more than 7,500 Palestinian families have sought refuge in the occupied areas in northern Syria, and more than 500 families have taken refuge in occupied Afrin.

 According to private sources in occupied Afrin, the Turkish Red Crescent, in cooperation with the governor of Hatay, is working to construct hundreds of housing units in Janders district.

 Within the framework of the demographic change, the Turkish occupation is working to erase and obliterate the culture of the Yazidi villages in the occupied canton of Afrin, and to separate the city of Afrin from the rest of the other Syrian regions.

 Associations that fund the establishment of settlements in the occupied territories

 According to information obtained by our agency's correspondent, the associations working to establish settlements in the occupied areas by numbers are: "IHH 18601 housing units - Türkıya Dıyanet Vakvı, 8016 housing units - AFAD, 7613 housing units - Sadakataşı, 5050 housing units - Turkish Red Crescent 2189  Housing unit - Fatih, 2,086 housing unit - Hayrat Yardim, 2058 housing unit - Deniz Feneri, 1,720 housing unit - Yadi Başak, 700 housing unit - Beşir Dernenği, 641 housing unit - İDDEF, 610 housing unit - Hündayi 587, Vakfi  Kiyamder, 265 housing units - ANDA, 200 housing units.

 As for the Qatari Brotherhood, Kuwaiti and Palestinian organizations, they are: "The Palestinian Living in Dignity Association - Ihsan Association for Relief and Development - White Hands - White Helmets - Cooperative Society - Khair al-Sham - Al Bayan Association - Arabs of Palestine 48, numbering 9352 settlement units."

 Turkey's role in establishing Israeli settlements

 The Turkish occupation had a role in building Israeli settlements, and the first Turkish companies arrived in Israel in the 1990s, according to a property agreement between the two parties in 1996 to significantly increase residential buildings so that they could accommodate Jewish immigration from the former Soviet Union.

 One of the most important companies was the Turkish company "Yilmazlar", which the Israeli newspaper Ha'aretz described as the most successful contracting company working in the establishment of settlements.

The official spokesman for the Human Rights Organization Afrin-Syria Ibrahim Sheikho said, in a statement to our agency, that the Turkish occupation state is working to reduce the proportion of Kurds in the occupied canton of Afrin, after it decreased to 23% after occupying the canton on March 18, 2018.

 Sheikho explained that the process of establishing settlements is taking place in full swing in the occupied canton of Afrin and all the occupied territories, noting that "with the beginning of 2022, the Turkish occupation escalated the pace of establishing settlements in the occupied canton of Afrin, especially in light of the talk about the settlement of millions of Syrian refugees in the occupied areas.  And the establishment of a so-called “safe zone” with a depth of 30 km inside Syrian territory, with the aim of perpetuating the occupation process in the areas occupied by Turkey.

 Sheikho drew attention to the speech of the head of the Turkish occupation state and the claim that there is a “voluntary” return to Syria, saying: “All that Turkish officials are promoting, especially Erdogan, that there is a “voluntary” return to Syria is untrue and there is nothing like that.  The truth is that the Turkish occupation authorities are forcing the Syrians to sign the deportation paper, and anyone who does not carry out the order is arrested inside closed camps in the city of Marash.”

 Sheikho referred to the fighting between mercenary groups in the occupied areas in the past few days, and explained that "the mercenaries of Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham entered Afrin areas with a Turkish green light, with the aim of establishing a "black belt" along the occupied areas."

 At the conclusion of his speech, the official spokesman for the Human Rights Organization Afrin-Syria, Ibrahim Sheikho, confirmed that the visits of Turkish officials to Syria periodically from time to time and the chaos and security chaos that the region is witnessing and the establishment of settlements all indicate the nibbling of the occupied northern Syrian regions and their annexation to Turkish lands.

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 ANHA