Turkey, Qatari NGO sign agreement for new settlement in northern Syria
QAMISHLI, Syria (North Press) – A Qatari organization and Turkish authorities signed on Wednesday an agreement in the capital Ankara to establish a new settlement in northern Syria for housing IDPs from other areas, especially those who are being forcibly deported by Turkey.
The new settlement is called “al-Karama City” that is located in the town of Qabasin in the countryside of al-Bab city of Aleppo eastern countryside.
The city of al-Bab has been under the occupation of Turkey and its SNA factions since 2017.
The agreement was signed by Executive Director of Qatar Charity organization, Youssef Bin Ahmad al-Kuwari, Deputy Governor of Gaziantep, Anal Alkal, mayor of Gaziantep, Fatima Shahin, and representatives of the Turkish AFAD organization and the Turkish Red Crescent.
Qatar Charity claimed that its project is to support reconstruction projects in Turkey and northern Syria after the devastating Feb. 6 earthquake that struck the region. However, the organization, along with a number of other Gulf-based and Palestinian NGOs, have been contributing and funding the construction of settlements in the Turkish-occupied areas in northern Syria even before the earthquake, where the Syrians families from other areas are being housed in, meaning that a process of demographic change is being achieved, according to press and human rights reports.
The al-Karama City settlement consists of 1,680 units to house 8,500 people.
The two parties also agreed to build a social housing consisting of 40 apartments for families of orphans.
Human rights activists say they are part of a Turkish “ethnic engineering” policy in the region. Most are funded by Turkish, Qatari, Kuwaiti, or Palestinian organizations with ties to the Muslim Brotherhood. At least 1.535 Palestinian families living in Syria have been resettled to Afrin.