Is Erdogan resettlement plan for Syrian refugees really viable?
The Turkish president's proposal to build refugee settlements in the safe zone has already revitalized the Turkish construction industry. Neither refugees nor the Kurds are pleased, and the international community has lashed out at the plan.
On Sept. 24, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan introduced what was referred to as an unprecedented project envisaging the establishment of refugee towns in Syrian areas where Turkey’s Operation Peace Spring is taking place.
A week later, he revealed the details of this curious project. “We made the necessary plans. With the support from international community we will resettle 1 million people into 140 villages with 5,000 inhabitants and 50 districts of 30,000 inhabitants,” he said during his parliamentary address Oct. 1. “Preliminary work on building new villages and districts has started, locations are established and costs calculated.”
Erdogan also said that some 370,000 refugees have returned to the northwestern Syrian cities of Afrin and Jarablus. However, there is an important distinction here: Those refugees returned to their hometowns, where they have strong connections and family. Erdogan’s plans, on the other hand, involve establishing new settlements for vast numbers of refugees who fled their hometowns in Aleppo, Idlib and other parts of Syria.
Furthermore, unlike the northwestern region of Syria, where the battles are almost over, the fight in the northeastern areas has just begun with Turkey’s military operation against the Kurdish groups that Ankara considers a threat to Turkish national security.
