Turkey, Saudi Arabia establish large settlement in Syria’s Afrin
AFRIN, Syria (North Press) – Local organizations, with the support of Saudi Arabia and Turkish coordination, continue to build the second-largest settlement complex in Afrin Region, northwest Syria, where Turkish-backed armed opposition factions, aka Syrian National Army (SNA), control.
An official in one of the organizations operating in the area stated that local organizations, with direct support from Saudi Arabia, have been carrying out construction operations since March. These operations include the construction of more than 10 settlements, six of which have been prepared in the village of Sheikh al-Deir (Shadereh) in the countryside of Afrin.
He further told North Press that the project is different from other settlements in the region. It consists of pre-fabricated rooms rather than concrete blocks, as is the case in the largest settlement in the region, located in al-Ahlam Mountain, southeast of Afrin.
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.
The six settlements that have been prepared so far have more than 1,500 residential rooms, and the settlement is called “al-Khuzama Residential Village.”
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.