Turkey finishes building new settlement in Syria’s Afrin following quake
AFRIN, Syria (North Press) – Days earlier, a local organization, in coordination with Turkey, finished building a new settlement in Jabal al-Ahlam, south of Afrin, in northwest Syria, and granted it to IDPs from the countryside of Damascus, Homs, and Aleppo.
The construction process ended following the devastating earthquake that hit across Syria, as Jindires was the most damaged area in the country.
Qatar, through its ambassador to Turkey, who visited Jindires after the quake, and the head of the Qatar Red Crescent, had pledged to establish a new settlement under the name of “al-Karama” within earthquake-affected areas.
An informed source told North Press that the International Association for Development and Relief (ONSUR), Turkish organization, has finished building a new settlement in Jabal al-Ahlam in southern Afrin, which consists of 250 residential apartments.
The source added that the residential units were handed over to the IDPs a few days ago.
It is expected that some quake-affected families would be transferred to the settlement, according to the source.
The new settlement is constructed in corporation with the Turkish organization, Afad, accountable for building settlements in the countryside of Idlib and Aleppo, the source added.
North Press’ correspondent monitored, during his tour in the area, the construction of three settlements in Jabal al-Ahlam and al-Khaldiya forest, in Sharran district, south of Afrin, as each one of those settlements contain 150 to 200 apartments, mosques, schools, and centers for memorizing Holy Quran.
The number of settlements built by Turkey with the support of Gulf countries, most notably Kuwait and Qatar, and Palestinian associations, exceeded more than 100 in Turkish-occupied areas in northern Syria, according to North Press’ own investigations.
The projects aim at settling the Turkey-based Syrian refugees and the militants of the Turkish-backed opposition factions, also known as the Syrian National Army (SNA), according to international reports.
In June 2022, Syrians for Truth and Justice (STJ), a human rights organization, published an extensive investigative report, in which it detailed Turkey’s demographic engineering in Afrin and its countryside.
Afrin has been under the control of Turkey and the SNA factions since 2018 following a military operation dubbed “Olive Branch” against the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) under the pretext of preserving Turkey’s national security.