Northwestern Syria: Do Turkish Forces Pay Rent for Their Sites?

Despite the protection provided by Turkish forces to opposition-controlled areas in northwestern Syria, their long-term deployment has begun to raise issues related to the sites they occupy.

In early 2020, the Turkish army set up a defensive line between the Syrian opposition and the regime forces in the countrysides of the provinces of Hama, Aleppo, Idlib and Lattakia. The Turkish army deployed about 6,000 Turkish soldiers and about 7,500 military vehicles, which were distributed in more than 70 points and strategic locations.

In some areas, such as in the village of Balanta in rural western Aleppo, Turkish forces occupied only some houses, using them as military facilities, while in other areas they captured entire villages, as in the case of Abin Samaan village in rural western Aleppo governorate. In each of these villages they have barred homeowners, who had already been displaced due to the battles, from returning.

This situation has led to protests, such as in Abin Samaan, where dozens of people went out in protest in mid-January, demanding that Turkish forces leave their homes and allow them to return.

When the fighting largely halted due to a Turkish-Russian ceasefire on March 4, 2020, displaced residents began returning to their hometowns along the line of contact between regime and opposition control. Some residents formed delegations that met with Turkish military officials to demand that the soldiers vacate their houses. Turkish officials justified their occupation of the homes by saying that they had come to protect opposition-held areas, and that the area was a military zone and a first line of defence that could not yet be abandoned.

During their most recent meeting with Turkish officials in early 2021, a delegation of residents proposed that the Turkish army assist in building temporary camps for residents waiting for Turkish troops to leave their homes. The delegation has yet to receive an answer, according to a correspondent for The Syria Report in the area.

Sometimes, the Turkish forces reportedly pay rent to the owners of the land they occupy through an intermediary. In other occasions, despite signing contracts with the real estate owners, they have not paid anything. The Syria Report’s correspondent confirmed, for instance, that the owner of the land being used by the Turkish army for its Salwa military point in rural Idlib was able to obtain part of the agreed rental payment for it. He is trying to collect the rest and renew the lease. The land consists of five hectares, cultivated with olive trees and hosts the first military point set up by Turkish forces in Idlib, in early 2017.

On the other hand, Turkish forces finished evacuating 14 military observation points in January of this year. The points, located in rural Aleppo, Hama and Idlib governorates, had been surrounded by regime forces, prompting Turkish troops to withdraw towards remaining opposition-held areas of southern Idlib.

Turkey had established the observation points in 2018, carrying out its part of a de-escalation zones agreement made in 2017 alongside Russia and Iran in Astana, Kazakhstan. However, from late 2019 until the March 5, 2020 ceasefire, regime forces exceeded these points and advanced on opposition territory.

The Turkish army had set up most of the 14 now-vacated observation points on public lands owned by the Syrian state. For the remaining points, it rented privately owned lands, according to contracts signed with landowners. The Turkish army has been using the Syrian opposition Failaq Al-Sham group, which is affiliated with the Turkish-backed National Liberation Front, as an intermediary party for the signing of these contracts.

Mustafa Al-Fawaz, a landowner from northern Hama governorate, had agreed with Turkish army stationed in the town of Morek to lease his land for 126 thousand Turkish Liras annually (TRY 31,000 per hectare of land). The contract was signed in early May 2018. Al-Fawaz told The Syria Report that he has yet to receive any rental payments and has also been unable to renew the contract due to delays from Failaq Al-Sham.

Al-Fawaz fled Morek in August 2019 as regime forces advanced towards the town. He now lives with his family in a displacement camp near the Turkish border, in the northern part of the Idlib governorate. He maintains that the Turkish army did not deny him his rights, adding that he still hopes to receive the rental sum, similarly to what happened with another observation point in Sheir Maghar.

However, after Turkish forces evacuated their observation point on Al-Fawaz’s land in Morek, the regime’s Military Security seized the property, confiscating his other properties as well, including a house and real estate inside the town of Morek. 

Source: EnabBaladi.net