Palestinian NGO funds building new Turkish settlement in Syria’s Afrin
AFRIN, Syria (North Press) – Local organizations, coordinating with Turkey and receiving Palestinian funding, started to build a new settlement in the countryside of Afrin, northwestern Syria.
A local organization, supported by the Palestine 48 Association, started to build a new settlement consisting of dozens of concrete houses in a forest north of the village of Kafr Safra in the town of Jindires in the countryside of Afrin, a local source told North Press.
The new settlement consists of more than 300 residential apartments. Construction is expected to be completed in mid-September, the source noted.
The Kurdish-majority region of Afrin has been under the Turkish occupation since 2018 following a military operation dubbed “Olive Branch” to push away the Kurdish People’s/Women’s Protection Units (YPG/YPJ) under the pretext of protecting the “Turkish national security.”
The invasion displaced around 300,000 indigenous Kurds. Turkey and its affiliated opposition factions of the Syrian National Army (SNA), replaced the population with Arabs fleeing other parts of Syria. The Kurds in Afrin are subject to systemic discrimination and violence.
The number of settlements built by organizations affiliated with Turkey, Kuwait, Palestine, and Qatar reached about 28 in the towns of Sharran, Sheikh Hadid, Jindires, Bulbul, and Rajo near Afrin.