By Mo’ayed al-Sheikh
IDLIB, Syria (North Press) – Turkish authorities have been implementing a deportation campaign targeting Syrian refugees, relocating them to areas under the control of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) and Turkish-backed opposition factions, also known as the Syrian National Army (SNA). As part of this campaign, Syrian refugees are being coerced into signing deportation papers, which result in their transfer to cities such as Tel Abyad, in northern Raqqa, and Sere Kaniye (Ras al-Ain), in northern Hasakah. Notably, these deportations are primarily focused on these specific regions in north and northeast Syria, while other areas under Turkish control in Aleppo and Idlib in the northwest are not currently affected.
The cities of Sere Kaniye and Tel Abyad and their surroundings, abutting the Turkish border, have been under the control of Turkish forces and the SNA factions since October 2019 following a military operation dubbed “Peace Spring” that pushed away the Syrian democratic Forces (SDF) under the pretext of protecting the Turkish national security.
In late July, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan claimed that “more than 600,000 displaced people have returned to the country.” In May, Erdogan said that Turkey is working on ensuring the “voluntary return” of 1 million Syrian refugees.
Since the beginning of July, Turkey has launched a deportation campaign against Syrian refugees residing in its territory, especially in Istanbul.
Turkey’s move raised many questions about its objectives, especially after frequently stating about building hundreds of concrete settlements in Idlib and Aleppo countryside to house “voluntarily” returned Syrians.
According to locals and activists, Turkey’s goals are obvious, which is to change the demography of the region as it does in Afrin region, in northern Aleppo, since it occupied it in 2018. Turkey takes advantage of the lack of routes connecting Tel Abyad and Sere Kaniye with other SNA-held areas.
Deportees are not allowed to leave the countryside of Idlib and Aleppo. They are forced to live in Sere Kaniye and Tel Abyad, which is what Turkey wants and has pursued for years.
Yazan al-Horani, a pseudonym for a media activist residing in the countryside of Aleppo, told North Press, “In fact, I cannot find a justification for the deportation of Syrians to those regions other than Turkey’s desire to fill the region with a new population and change its demography.”
“Maybe the declared justification behind choosing this particular region is Turkey’s construction of Qatari-funded housing units in it. However, this does not rule out the possibility of demographic change but rather confirms it,” he added.
Turkey strategically utilizes the geographical separation of the region from the northern countryside of Aleppo, taking advantage of its isolation. This enables Turkey to effectively manage its border with the region, preventing smuggling operations.
Salim Reyhan, a human rights activist living in Idlib, stressed to North Press that Turkey’s objective behind deporting Syrians to regions occupied during ‘Operation Peace Spring’, which are surrounded by different de-facto powers, is “definitely not by chance. Turkey wants to force deportees to live there, hence ensuring the success of its project, which is changing the region’s demography or at least changing the majority to Arabs.”
Reyhan noted that despite forcibly deporting Syrians, Turkey presents itself to the world as “their savior, and that it did not forcibly deport anyone and everyone returns voluntarily to the safe zone it had established along its border.”
Asaad al-Omar, 32, an IDP from Rif Dimashq Governorate, said that, in early July, Turkish authorities raided the factory he worked in Esenyurt district in Istanbul. They arrested al-Omar and over 30 Syrian refugees with him. “Even though most of the youth carried Temporary Protection Cards [Kimlik], they were transferred to a nearby deportation center,” he added.
Though Syria is still unsafe for returns, Turkey tries to get rid of the refugees by forcibly deporting them. Turkish authorities have intensified the forced deportation of Syrians, as part of what they call voluntary return to safe areas in northwestern Syria, according to media and documentary reports.
In late 2018, al-Omar went to work in Turkey to support his family in Idlib. Now he is in the city of Tel Abyad after having been deported by Turkish authorities.
After staying more than a week in the deportation center in Esenyurt, “an officer came and told everyone, more than 100 people, in the center that they will be deported the next morning to northern Syria and that they can choose the region they want to return to,” he said.
“But in reality it was the contrary. Everyone was surprised when they saw the papers had two options only, Tel Abyad or Sere Kaniye. The third option was to be imprisoned for six months, so we were forced to choose Tel Abyad,” he told North Press.