AFRIN, Syria (North Press) – Turkey has been implementing a policy of demographic change in the north of Aleppo since its takeover of the Afrin region, northwest Syria. To facilitate this, Turkey and its affiliated armed opposition factions, known as the Syrian National Army (SNA), have carved up sites in al-Ahlam Mountain, southeast of Afrin, into construction lots.
These lots are then given to IDPs, primarily from tribal communities and some from Eastern Ghouta, in order to settle them in the area.
Afrin has been under the occupation of Turkey and the SNA factions since 2018 following a military operation dubbed “Olive Branch” against the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) under the pretext of preserving Turkey’s national security.
After the SNA gained control of Afrin, many humanitarian organizations and associations constructed approximately 25 settlements in different areas of Afrin and the surrounding region, with a particular focus on al-Ahlam Mountain and the al-Khaldiya forest.
These settlements are residential villages, each consisting of an average of 100 apartments. Recently, Turkey has gone even further by distributing common lands, which are state property, to the IDPs from tribal communities and others.
Muhammad al-Halabi, a pseudonym of a commander in the Third Legion of the SNA, told North Press that the distribution of common lands was a result of the high population density and significant number of displaced people in northwestern Syria.
He further explained that the SNA leadership had taken steps to distribute these lands, which are frequently situated on the slopes of mountains and forests and are owned by the state, to the IDPs. The aim of this was to allow them to construct new homes on these lands. They are meant to settle these lands until they will be able to return to their homes, which they were forced to abandon by the Syrian government.
The Ahrar al-Sharqiya and Jaysh al-Sharqiya factions of the SNA primarily consist of militants from the eastern part of Syria, particularly Deir ez-Zor Governorate. These factions continue to divide up lands in al-Ahlam Mountain, a practice that began in 2020. The size of the land parcels ranges from 300 to 800 square meters.
In the beginning, the land parcels were distributed to the militants of these factions, whose number exceeds 2,500. Later on, parcels were distributed to tribes, according to al-Halabi.
He clarified that the distribution of the lands to the tribes was not at random, as the factions had divided the mountain into neighborhoods and villages according to an organizational plan. Each tribe or clan was given a share based on the number of families it had. Some of these areas, such as those given to the Mawali and Akidat tribes, were as large as a thousand acres (1,000 square meters) each. The goal was to encourage the members of these tribes to build villages similar to the ones they were previously displaced from.
To date, only a few construction operations have taken place in these areas due to their remoteness and the lack of service. However, in order to secure ownership of the land, each family has built a wall around their designated area to prevent anyone else from taking it.
Additionally, the Jaysh al-Sharqiya faction, with Turkish instructions, is pushing locals to start the construction process as soon as possible. They promise to improve the area’s services by opening roads, building schools, mosques, and other facilities for those who live there, according to a commander in the Third Legion.
Recently, a Turkish organization has begun paving the road that leads to al-Ahlam Mountain, all the way to al-Khaldiya forest – a distance of over five kilometers – in order to encourage settlers to start building homes in the free lots provided to them, according to the source.
Zaid Hajjo (name changed), an Afrin-based activist, explained that Turkey’s delivery of these lands to displaced Arab tribes from various areas, in coordination with military factions, is actually an enforced settlement of these people in these areas. They are unable to return to their homes, which they were forced to leave because of the Syrian government.
“While some may view this as a good thing, it is extremely dangerous and means that Turkey actually wants to keep these people in this area and has no intention of returning them to their countries,” Hajjo told North Press.
While Afrin was once 90-95% Kurdish, the indigenous population was largely forced out during Turkey’s 2018 invasion of the region. Today, around one-third of Afrin’s inhabitants are Kurdish, while the remaining two-thirds are Arab settlers.
The number of settlements built by Turkey with the support of Gulf countries, most notably Kuwait and Qatar, and Palestinian associations, exceeded more than 100 in the Turkish-occupied areas in northern Syria, according to North Press’ own investigations.
The projects aim at settling the Turkey-based Syrian refugees and the militants of the SNA, according to international reports.