Through the intermediaries…the apartments go to those close to the leaders of the armed factions in northern Syria

Yamin Al-Khalid / Northern Aleppo countryside
Translated by: Hejar Abo
The number of residential settlements that are being built with the support of the Turkish occupation and humanitarian organizations operating in the usurped areas in the northern countryside of Aleppo has increased. According to Turkish officials and organizations contributing to the construction of settlements, these settlements are being built to house the Syrian displaced and refugees within the “voluntary return” plan launched by the Turkish occupation government. With the aim of returning about one million Syrian refugees in Turkey to northern Syria, but facts and information indicate that the majority of the apartments go to people loyal to the Turkish occupation and close to the leaders of the armed factions.

“Favoritism” and “So-and-so is affiliated with the leader” are words that have become widely circulated recently among the displaced families residing within the areas of the Turkish occupation in the northern countryside of Aleppo, as an expression of the extent to which there are large numbers of apartments within the newly established settlements, which belong to people, who are affiliated with leaders within the factions loyal to the Turkish occupation, while the displaced are deprived of these apartments.

“Anyone who has a a connector can receive an apartment within a few hours and without any trouble.” With these words, “Mohammad Abd al-Salam” began his interview with Aso News Network. He is displaced with his family from the southern countryside of Hama and lives in the usurped city of al-Bab in the northern countryside of Aleppo. He tried several times to obtain An apartment in a residential village supported by the “Qatar Red Crescent”, the “Turkish Red Crescent” and local humanitarian organizations, but he did not get it on the pretext that he does not deserve it.

“Abd al-Salam” added that the “Mulham Volunteer Team” is one of the most prominent organizations based on the village project, which is called the “residential city” near the city of al-Bab, and many elements close to the military leaders of the pro-Turkish factions were able to obtain apartments inside this village, although they are considered wealthy and own luxury cars.

Many displaced families suffer from poverty and are forced to pay high monthly rents inside the city of al-Bab, and the apartments are supposed to go to the benefit of those families, while those in charge of the apartments collude with the military leaders, with the absence of oversight over the work of organizations and the absence of a specific mechanism for equitable distribution according to Abd al-Salam.

“Abd al-Salam” indicated that there are many apartments that were not inhabited by anyone, and the distribution of apartments stopped two years ago, i.e. a few days after the opening of the village in 2019, and it is likely that the apartments were granted to families of members and leaders within the factions in order to obtain and sell monthly food rations and benefit from humanitarian aid Sometimes.

“Suleiman Al-Satouf” (pseudonym), a university student who comes from the town of Sfuhun in the southern countryside of Idlib and resides in the city of Azaz, told Aso News Network that on May 16, several humanitarian organizations were opened in cooperation with the “Kuwait Wisdom Society” and the “Turkish Religion Endowment.” A residential settlement to house the displaced in the city of Azaz in the northern countryside of Aleppo, but the majority of applicants for apartments in this village were rejected, and many apartments were handed over to people loyal to the Turkish occupation and armed factions.

I applied for an apartment in which to live with my wife, three children and my father, but my application was rejected by the people in charge of the distribution of apartments in the village, on the grounds that I am a university student and pay university fees and that I have the financial ability to rent a house, and like many of the displaced, I returned to search for shelter For my family, I rented one room for me to continue my studies, while I sent my family to live in a camp in the Atma area in the northern countryside of Idlib, according to “Al-Satouf.”

Al-Satouf added that he knows many of the people in charge of the residential village, one of whom is from the town of Joseph in the Idlib countryside and works for the “Namaa for Development” organization called “Mohammed Abu Al-Ghaith” and he is the brother of a soldier in the “Sultan Murad Division” faction that controls the majority of the city. Abu al-Ghaith prefers many of his townspeople who are loyal to Turkey and its factions in northern Syria, and one of the female employees called “Suha Darwish” from the city of Homs works for the “Namaa for Development” organization, she has brought many families she knows.

He emphasized that this information was obtained by his relatives and friends inside the settlement, who obtained apartments in the settlement after the role of distributing apartments to those affiliated with officials in organizations and leaders, who obtained homes after great efforts, complaints, had ended, calling for an end to the phenomenon of “nepotism.” Which spreads when distributing apartments in settlements that were built on the basis of serving the needy and transferring the displaced from the camps to cement blocks.

The spread of nepotism and connect is not a new phenomenon, but it almost spreads in all aspects of life within the usurped areas of the Turkish occupation in the northern countryside of Aleppo.

The increasing suffering of the displaced in the displacement camps, and the difficulty of renting homes in light of the difficult living conditions, push the displaced to obtain apartments and receive humanitarian aid coming to the settlements.

“Manhal al-Ghabi,” a former relief activist residing in Idlib, told Aso News Network that all organizations operating in northern Syria are complicit with the armed factions, and the residential villages that are being built are nothing but a gateway to a livelihood by the beneficiary parties such as leaders, officials of humanitarian organizations and civilians affiliated with the leaders and officials.

Al-Ghabi added that the relationship of the military leaders with the officials of the organizations is a relationship of mutual interests, as the leaders of the armed factions cover their issues of corruption in the organizations, in return for obtaining apartments and humanitarian aid.

Most of the apartments go to the owners of “intermediaries” who come on the recommendation of leaders, and the receipt of aid also takes place in the same way, as those affiliated with the factions receive large amounts of humanitarian aid, and this is the solution in all civil institutions, as he described it.

Many residential settlements have recently opened with the support and funding of Turkey, Qatar, Kuwait, Palestine and local organizations, within the areas of the northern countryside of Aleppo that are under the control of the factions loyal to the Turkish occupation, including the “Village of Palestine Seeds” in the town of Azaz. The village contains 94 thousand apartments, and the village of “Al-Salam” The Kuwaiti” located in the town of Jindires and contains three thousand apartments, the village of “Al-Khair” in the town of Azaz and contains 100 apartments, the village of “Basma” in the city of Afrin and contains 350 apartments, and the village of “Habib Al- Rahman” in the town of Mare’, which contains 204 apartments, and many other settlements.

The sponsors of the settlement projects claim that they aim to transfer the displaced and refugees from the tents to housing blocks that will protect them from the summer heat and the cold winter. However, these projects come within the framework of the Turkish occupation government’s endeavor to manipulate the demographic engineering of the region with a humanitarian cover, by the armed factions and many international and local organizations.