Syria: PYD reacts to Turkey’s plan to settle one million refugees in occupied areas

It has been discussed that since the Turkish state first began its invasions of Northern Syria, it has constantly been making demographic engineering plans for the region. Within the scope of these plans, the present aim is to relocate refugees who escaped from the war and took refuge in Turkey to TOKİ (housing development administration of Turkey) houses to be built in the occupied territories of Northern Syria.

Before the TOKİ project, the Turkish state began to settle the immigrants in these areas by building breeze–blockhouses, and it tried to reduce the Kurdish population in the region. Journalist Rauf Baker, who specialised in the Middle East, also wrote an article examining the issue last Autumn. He interpreted this attempt of the Turkish state as a project to change the ethnic structure of Northern Syria.

Recently, Turkish officials have announced that Syrians will continue to be resettled in this region. Last week, Erdogan announced that additional houses will be built to resettle 1 million Syrians in Northern Syria.

The United Nations (UN), European Union (EU), and the Damascus government continue to remain silent in the face of these draconian plans.

The General Assembly of the Democratic Union Party (PYD) released a statement on Monday, condemning the Turkish state’s exploitation of the Syrian crisis and its policy of destroying the cultural and social identities of cities and villages. The PYD called on the peoples of Syria not to settle in what they called colonial houses.

It said:

“We call on the Syrian people to return to their own hometowns and not to go and settle in colonial houses sponsored by the invading Turkish state and Muslim Brotherhood. They want to change the social structure of Syria in order to realise their political objectives. We condemn the international community’s silence and the silence of the guarantor states in the face of this fascist policy. We urge them to stand by the democratic forces in Syria and the world, against these dirty projects, and against the Turkish occupation, which is trying to create strife and disintegration among the peoples of Syria.”

It continued:

“We call on the patriots in Syria to unite and take a stand so that the Turkish regime does not succeed in its plans (…) All Syrians should return safely to their hometowns and their own properties, and not settle in areas inhabited by other agents.”