Turkey guides NGOs to build more settlements in Syria’s Afrin
AFRIN, Syria (North Press) – Turkish Humanitarian Relief and Development Organization (HHRD) continues the construction of a settlement, which has been working on since the beginning of 2024, in the village of al-Khalidiyah in the southern countryside of Afrin, northwestern Syria.
A source in workshops of building settlements told North Press that this new settlement consists of 200 houses, each with area of 50 square meters.
It is expected that the construction will be completed by the beginning of September 2024.
Afrin has been under the occupation of the Turkish forces and their affiliated armed opposition factions, aka the Syrian National Army (SNA), since March 2018 following the so-called “Olive Branch” military operation to push away the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) under the pretext of protecting “Turkish national security.”
Since then, Islamist organizations supported by Turkey have constructed multiple settlements to house thousands of SNA militants’ families who came from other areas of Syria. However, the original people of Afrin, mainly Kurds, have been forcibly displaced and resided in deserted villages and IDP camps in the northern countryside of Aleppo, northwestern Syria.
A member of the local council in Afrin, which is managed by Turkey, said that families affiliated with the Turkish-backed SNA, brought in by Turkey after taking control of the area, are scheduled to be housed in the new settlement.
On May 20, a Britain-based Islamist organization built a settlement in the village of Hiloubi in the town of Sharran, southeast of Afrin.