RAQQA, Syria (North Press) – Tribal leaders and dignitaries in northern Syria’s Tel Abyad region consider the Turkish plan to settle Syrian refugees in areas they are not originally from to constitute a “new occupation” of their areas. They say the project threatens peaceful coexistence in the region.
The recently announced Turkish project to settle the Syrian refugees in areas from which the original inhabitants were displaced by Turkish military operations has sparked official and popular resentment in northern Syrian because it alters local demographics at the expense of the Kurds.
In early May, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced preparations for settling about one million Syrian refugees in 13 Syrian areas which are not the areas the refugees are originally from.
Hamad al-Qaraja, head of the Abu Assaf clan, said that Turkey first occupied Tel Abyad in 2019 following a military operation, and now through this plan it has announced a new occupation.
In October 2019, Turkish forces launched a military operation called “Peace Spring” against the majority-Kurdish areas of Tel Abyad and Sere Kaniye (Ras al-Ain) in northeast Syria.
The operation, which was conducted with the support of Turkish-backed factions of the opposition-aligned Syrian National Army (SNA), caused the internal displacement of over 300,000 individuals.
Most of the IDPs were forced to relocate to camps established by the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES), including Washokani and Sere Kaniye camps in Hasakah, Tel al-Samen camp in Raqqa, and Newroz camp in Derik in addition to others.
Some of the IDPs are also being temporarily housed in schools in Hasakah.
Al-Qaraja explained that the Turkish plan “is an attempt by the Turkish regime to get rid of these [refugees] and occupy the remaining lands and houses.”
The Turkish government conducted several steps to prepare the ground for this project of demographic change, first bulldozing houses of the original inhabitants and claiming that they were destroyed due to battles, according to the head of the Abu Assaf clan.
The tribal leader appealed to “all international community to deter this occupier [Turkey],” since the original residents of the targeted areas are residing in camps away from their land and homes.
Za’im Kerdo, leader of the Kurdish Shaddadiya clan, expressed his rejection of the Turkish plan, saying that it will destroy the state of “peaceful coexistence” the people of different communities including Kurds, Arabs, Assyrians, Syriacs, Armenians and others in northeast Syria have been living under for over 150 years.
Kerdo worried about the creation of new divisions in the Syrian public, stressing that the settling of Syrian refugees in areas belonging to people who were forced to flee Turkish military operations will “separate the Syrian people.”
He added that the Kurds and the Arabs in the region reject the demographic change strategy that Turkey has adopted in the Syrian areas it has seized and continues to control.
Although residents and IDPs inside Syria as well as a majority of Syrian refugees residing in Turkey have expressed rejection of the deportation and settlement scheme, the Syrian government so far has not taken a public stance on the issue.
A recent report by Al-Monitor revealed that even if favorable conditions are provided for their return, most of the Syrians in Turkey are unwilling to go back. According to a survey sponsored by the UN refugee agency, the rate of Syrians who say they don’t plan to return increased to 77.8% in 2020 from 16.7% in 2017.