In the Turkish-occupied areas in northern Syria, the Turkish state is actively changing the demography with a policy of settlement and displacement. In one year, 21,000 people were settled in Girê Spî.
While the Kurdish population in particular is being systematically expelled from the areas occupied by Turkey in northern Syria, the Turkish state is pursuing an intensive settlement policy.
One of these occupied areas is the region of Girê Spî (Tal Abyad). The formerly multicultural, self-governing region was occupied by Turkey in 2019 and is now controlled by the Turkish intelligence service and jihadist mercenaries. According to the Girê Spî Cantol Council, more than 100,000 people had to flee the region after the Turkish invasion.
People loyal to the Turkish regime are now being resettled in their place. According to the ANHA news agency, Turkey has resettled 21,000 people in Girê Spî since April 2022; 9,181 of them in the last three months. It is said that those brought to the region are mercenaries and their families. Back in April 2022, it was reported that 12,757 people had been transferred to Girê Spî from Aleppo, Idlib, Homs and Eastern Ghouta. According to the report, Turkey has built houses on the west side of Girê Spî and in Ain Arus with funding from associations in Qatar, Pakistan and Afghanistan.
The Turkish state has repeatedly concluded agreements with Russia and the Syrian regime to take over jihadists and their relatives and settle them in the areas it has occupied. For the takeover of jihadists from Eastern Ghouta, for example, Turkey received the green light for the invasion of Afrin.
