Turkish-backed charities help in building settlements in Syria’s Afrin
ALEPPO NORTHERN COUNTRYSIDE, Syria (North Press) – For two days,settlers in the city of Afrin and its countryside, north Syria, have been continuing the process of constructing settlements within the indigenous people’s lands that relief charities supported by Turkey granted to them.
Those settlers have come from other Syrian areas such as Rif Dimashq, Homs and Aleppo countryside, and settled in Afrin region and its countryside following the Turkish invasion of Afrin in March 2018.
A settler of Rif Dimashq started construction works of a stall on Afrin-Azaz route near a checkpoint of the Turkish-backed Military Police, an eyewitness told North Press.
Relief associations operating in Afrin distribute lands in the industrial zone within the city in addition to distributing lands on Turinde village route without asking their owners, the source said.
Processes of selling and renting lands is carried out between two parties; the settler and the relief association in favor of the latter, according to the same source.
On April 2, a settler built a shop near Kawa Roundabout within a land owned by Hussein Muhammad and another built a shop for repairing cars within the property of Osman Agha family in the industrial zone.
Basma for Relief and Development that is funded by Turkey and Qatar is operating inside Afrin city and its districts bearing a major goal to implement the policy of the demographic change, which is completely supervised by Turkey.
The number of settlements in Afrin has reached 19, four of them in Jindires district, three each in Sheikh Hadid (Shiye), Sherawa, Sharran, and Bulbul districts, two in Rajo district, and one west of Afrin city.
Despite international and local reports that have spoken of widespread violations by Turkey and its affiliated factions since its control of Afrin in March 2018, and Ankara’s pursuit of demographic change in a Kurdish region, both Turkey and Qatar continue to establish settlements in the name of supporting the Syrian revolution or providing refugee relief.