Turkey opens Turkish colleges in Syria’s Afrin, al-Bab and Jarablus
Northern Syria – North-Press Agency
Although Turkey has repeatedly stated that it has no intention to remain on the Syrian territories and has only come to help the Syrians, Turkey’s activities on the ground suggest a significant geographic separation of the Syrian territories and its annexation to the Turkish province of Gaziantep, in an effort to continue the policy of demographic change in the region.
In the Turkish attempt to change the identity of the northern Syrian regions and to impose its culture and language, Gaziantep University announced on Wednesday the opening of several colleges in northern Syria. This came in accordance with the decision of the Turkish President Erdogan, which was issued in last October to open three new university colleges in areas controlled by the Turkish army and its affiliated Syrian armed opposition groups in the northern Syrian territories.
Turkish media reported that a presidential decree was published in the Official Gazette of Turkey to open the Faculty of Economic and Administrative Sciences in the Syrian city of al-Bab, northern Aleppo, north-eastern Aleppo, the Faculty of Islamic Sciences in the town of Azaz, northern Aleppo, in addition to the Faculty of Education in the city of Afrin, northern Aleppo, noting that the colleges would follow Gaziantep University and be under its supervision.
In 2018, the town of Jarablus witnessed the opening of a higher institute for vocational education. Earlier, the Turkish Ministry of Education distributed Turkish textbooks to 360,000 students within its controlled areas in Afrin, Jarablus, al-Bab, Azaz, al-Rae, Akhtarin and Marea.
Manipulating the educational field is one of the most dangerous practices that have had repercussions for years, but the risk of the Turkish change is not limited to that, it is the process of demographic change in the region.
Last week, Turkey's TRT TV Channel showed details of Turkey's plans to set up about $27 billion project to house nearly two million people in the recently invaded areas by Turkish military in north-eastern Syria.