AANES recent moves to expropriate lands to implement a water project in Hassekeh and a project to expand the road between Qamishli and Malikiyah has sparked controversy among property owners due to the lack of fair compensation and legal uncertainty.

In August 2023, the Local Administration and Environment Authority in the Jazira region launched a project to bring water to the city of Hassakeh. This project involves the expropriation of agricultural lands south of the city of Amouda. The urgent need for water in Hassakeh seems to have compelled the Autonomous Administration in North and East Syria (AANES) to expedite the water conveyance project before passing an expropriation law. As a result, the compensation process for expropriated lands is left to the discretion of local officials, causing landowners to raise objections.

According to the administrative regulations of the AANES, the Local Administration and Environment Authority is the highest authority overseeing regional municipalities. The Jazira region includes the cities of Qamishli, Hassakeh, Amouda, and Malikiyah. In August 2023, the Authority decided to expropriate five hectares of agricultural land in the villages of Sanjaq Saadoun, Kandour, Sanjaq Khalil, Kar Khaled, and Qazlajoukh, south of Amuda. The project, designed and executed by the Local Administration Authority, involved drilling twenty wells, installing a pumping station, laying pipelines, and constructing a water collection basin. However, due to some objections, the Authority has only managed to complete nine wells to date.

According to Article 58 of the Municipality and Democratic Municipalities Union Law No. 4 of 2024, issued by the Democratic Assembly of Peoples, the legislative arm of the AANES, the Regional Municipalities Union Council is responsible for approving strategic projects, such as road construction and expansion and the establishment of infrastructure facilities. The law allows municipalities to expropriate any property for public benefit in exchange for fair compensation, as per the expropriation law, and after confirming that there are no local administration-owned properties that meet the service project’s needs.

Former Co-President of the Local Administration and Environment Authority in North East Syria, Media Bozan, previously stated in 2022 to the AANES’ website that several committees had been formed to prepare a final draft of the expropriation law. However, a legal source told The Syria Report that the expropriation law has remained under review since 2022 and has not yet been enacted. The delay is attributed to the absence of property records specific to the AANES.

The lack of an expropriation law prompted the Property Committee of the AANES Categories Union to form a subcommittee at the beginning of 2024 to study compensation for expropriated landowners. The Categories Union, one of the AANES’ institutions, is responsible for regulating professional activities in the markets. The committee comprised three expert members from the Property Committee and determined compensation values for each expropriated plot of land individually, without disclosing the pricing criteria. Compensation values were set in USD per dunam of expropriated land. It is customary in AANES areas to price property sales and appraisal values in USD, whereas rents are documented in Syrian pounds. For example, the authority set the compensation value at USD 3,000 per dunam for land irrigated by artesian wells (that is, a well in which water is under pressure and flows to the surface naturally) and adjacent to the main road, while estimating USD 1,500 per dunam for other nearby areas.

According to the procedures followed by the Local Administration Authority, if a landowner accepts the compensation value, the next step is for the owner to sign a waiver deed organised by the authority’s legal office. This is followed by the signing of an expropriation contract between the authority and the owner, which includes a declaration of the expropriation compensation value.

Some landowners considered the compensation amount unfair compared to current market prices in the area. Some refused to hand over their land to the authority and declined to accept the compensation. Consequently, the authority issued warnings through a notary public to landowners, urging them to review the Local Administration Authority and sign the waiver and expropriation deeds. The warnings stated that if the expropriation compensation is refused, the compensation amount would be deposited in the court’s fund, and the project would be carried out forcibly.

The authority was supposed to deposit the compensation amounts with the notary public’s fund in the city of Amouda. However, this did not happen after one of the expropriated landowners filed a lawsuit against the Local Administration Authority. According to The Syria Report’s sources, the authority decided to hold off on depositing the expropriation compensation until a court ruling is issued in the case.

On another note, it is unclear how the expropriated properties can be transferred to the AANES’ municipalities in the absence of specific property records. The administration continues to rely on ownership documents issued by the land Record in Hassakeh, which is under the Damascus government’s control. The Damascus government does not recognise the AANES, its municipalities, regions, or any of its decisions. According to The Syria Report’s sources, the expropriated lands south of Amouda are still registered in the names of their original owners in the Land Records of the Damascus government and have not been converted into public property under the name of Jazira region or the Local Administration Authority.

Meanwhile, work has been ongoing for eight months to expand the main road between Qamishli and Malikiyah, involving the expropriation of 18 metres on both sides of the road, with nine metres on each side. This project threatens landowners adjacent to the road in more than 20 villages, as parts of their lands are being expropriated for public benefit. The Local Administration and Environment Authority is executing the project slowly, funded by international organisations that the authority has not disclosed but are part of early recovery programmes in the region.

Unlike the water conveyance project to Hassakeh, the AANES refused to pay financial compensation for the expropriation, arguing that the remaining lands on both sides of the road would become commercial properties, increasing their value. A legal source told The Syria Report that municipalities have so far refused to respond to complaints submitted by the expropriated landowners on either side of the road. If this neglect continues, the affected owners will file lawsuits against the municipalities to demand compensation for the expropriated portions of their lands.