Visit The Syria Report Subscribe to our mailing list
EN ع
  • Twitter
Syria Report
  • All articles
  • News
  • Analysis & Features
  • Reports & Papers
  • Regulations
  • Directory
  • Search
  • Menu Menu
Home1 / HLP2 / News3 / In Damascus Suburb of Heteitet Al-Turkman Homeowners Face Property ‘Confiscation’4
Print Friendly, PDF & Email

In Damascus Suburb of Heteitet Al-Turkman Homeowners Face Property ‘Confiscation’

03-03-2021/in HLP, News /by admin

The Syrian government allowed residents to return to the town of Heteitat Al-Turkman in East Ghouta in 2018, but much of the town, which sits along the airport highway, is still considered a closed security zone. In addition, many of the town’s properties have been confiscated from their owners.

Heteitat Al-Turkman is part of the  Mleeha district, and since 1970 has been home to an Air Defence garrison tasked with protecting the Damascus International Airport. Because of the town’s proximity to Damascus’ Conference Hall Palace and Exhibition Centre, and its numerous orchards, it was a tourist area before the war. The town was home to many restaurants and parks, including the Damascus Gate restaurant that in 2008 entered the Guinness Book of World Records as the largest restaurant in the world.

Air Force Intelligence currently occupies the entirety of Heteitat Al-Turkman’s Al-Maydaniyeh residential neighbourhood–the entrance to the town from the airport roadside–as a security zone, preventing all property owners from entering to visit or live in their homes. The area is close to two checkpoints belonging to Air Force Intelligence’s Fifth Brigade –two of the largest checkpoints along the airport highway. 

In recent months, owners of houses and other properties in the Maydaniyeh neighbourhood have submitted requests to the town’s Security Committee to allow them to return to their homes. None have yet been granted permission, despite the committee promising it would study the requests. The Heteitat Al-Turkman Security Committee was formed in 2018 and is composed of the secretary of the Baath party division, the mukhtar (a village chief), the mayor and Air Force Intelligence representatives.

Until 2011, the town was inhabited by around 7,500 people, according to local estimates. It remained empty from 2013 to 2018, after Air Force Intelligence took control. About 2,500 people later returned to Heteitat Al-Turkman, while 1,500 were forcibly displaced to northern Syria in 2018 as part of the bus convoys that left East Ghouta upon regime recapture of the formerly opposition-held pocket.

The town’s security committee is responsible for preparing lists of properties owned by opposition sympathisers and seizing them. Residents have nicknamed it the “wax committee” due to the red wax it uses to seal the homes of opposition sympathisers. In all these cases, the use of red wax is merely symbolic, as all these properties are looted and no longer have doors. Instead, the word “sealed” is written across their walls.

There are various types of properties that have been seized in Heteitat Al-Turkman. Those seized by Air Force Intelligence have been written over with the word “Confiscated” or, sometimes “Confiscated. Air Force Intelligence”. Other properties have been seized by the municipality under what it said are “official confiscation decrees”. The municipality sealed those properties and wrote on their exterior walls: “Sealed. Municipality of Heteitat Al-Turkman”. In none of these cases did Air Force intelligence or the municipality provide any documentation justifying the property seizures or why it referred to them as confiscations. Confiscation of private property is permissible only by judicial order, and includes forcibly removing assets or property from an owner and adding it to state property without compensation.

There has also been a new form of property seizures added to the list of seizures carried out by Air Force Intelligence and the municipality. In 2020, the Terrorism Court sentenced hundreds of young men from the town to death in absentia, though they had already been killed before 2018 while fighting alongside the opposition in East Ghouta. The civil registry refused to grant their families death certificates, without explanation. Most recently, the families were informed by the mukhtar and Baath party members that property owned by the men who had been given death sentences would be confiscated. 

Syrian soldiers in Heteitat Al-Turkman

Source: RT Arabic

Post Views: 9
Tags: english
Share this entry
  • Share on Facebook
  • Share on Twitter
  • Share on WhatsApp
  • Share on LinkedIn
  • Share by Mail
https://hlp.syria-report.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/Logo-300x81.png 0 0 admin https://hlp.syria-report.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/Logo-300x81.png admin2021-03-03 23:30:002021-07-14 15:14:06In Damascus Suburb of Heteitet Al-Turkman Homeowners Face Property ‘Confiscation’

Read also

  • Earthquake Committees in SIG-Controlled Areas
  • Some Displaced Residents Allowed to Return to New Neighbourhoods in Al-Hajar Al-Aswad
  • Turkey Launches New Housing Project in Rural Aleppo for Returnees
  • How One Man Lost His Land and House in Basilia City
HelpAbout usContact usAdvertise with The Syria ReportTerms & conditions
Copyright © 2022 The Syria Report – all rights reserved. Your use of this website is subject to our legal terms & conditions
Explained: Social Housing Programmes in Syria تجار أسواق حمص القديمة أمام خيارين: الفتح...
Scroll to top

This site uses cookies. By continuing to browse the site, you are agreeing to our use of cookies.

Ok

Cookie and Privacy Settings



How we use cookies

We may request cookies to be set on your device. We use cookies to let us know when you visit our websites, how you interact with us, to enrich your user experience, and to customize your relationship with our website.

Click on the different category headings to find out more. You can also change some of your preferences. Note that blocking some types of cookies may impact your experience on our websites and the services we are able to offer.

Essential Website Cookies

These cookies are strictly necessary to provide you with services available through our website and to use some of its features.

Because these cookies are strictly necessary to deliver the website, refuseing them will have impact how our site functions. You always can block or delete cookies by changing your browser settings and force blocking all cookies on this website. But this will always prompt you to accept/refuse cookies when revisiting our site.

We fully respect if you want to refuse cookies but to avoid asking you again and again kindly allow us to store a cookie for that. You are free to opt out any time or opt in for other cookies to get a better experience. If you refuse cookies we will remove all set cookies in our domain.

We provide you with a list of stored cookies on your computer in our domain so you can check what we stored. Due to security reasons we are not able to show or modify cookies from other domains. You can check these in your browser security settings.

Other external services

We also use different external services like Google Webfonts, Google Maps, and external Video providers. Since these providers may collect personal data like your IP address we allow you to block them here. Please be aware that this might heavily reduce the functionality and appearance of our site. Changes will take effect once you reload the page.

Google Webfont Settings:

Google Map Settings:

Google reCaptcha Settings:

Vimeo and Youtube video embeds:

Privacy Policy

You can read about our cookies and privacy settings in detail on our Privacy Policy Page.