All Eyes On Kurdistan – The Turkish Policy Of Annihilation Of Kurds And Colonization Of Occupied Kurdish Lands

Historical Background

During WWI, the Ottoman Turkish government implemented violent Turkification and deportation policies targeting Kurds. Between 700,000 to a million Kurds were forced on death marches to inner Anatolia between 1916 and 1918, with more than half of them perishing along the way.[1] Some Kurdish sources report that around 700,000 Kurds perished.[2]

After the Kurds were deprived of an independent state in 1923, the Turkification campaigns intensified between 1923 and WWII and took a tremendous toll, it is estimated that more than 1.5 million Kurds were deported or killed, and Kurdistan remained under martial law until 1950.[3] Kurdish language was banned, and Kurds were renamed "Mountain Turks."

The Turkish state employed a systemic poverty and economic deprivation policy coupled with violent repression of Kurds to force them to immigrate to Turkish cities and assimilate with Turks.[4] Between 1950 and 1980, more than one million Kurds immigrated to Turkish cities and to the Western countries to escape dire poverty, government violence, joblessness, and forced relocation and deportation. Between 1984 and 1999, 4,000 Kurdish villages were destroyed, tens of thousands of Kurds were killed, and more than three million Kurds were removed from their homes and deported to Turkish areas.[5]

(Source: Anfenglishmobile.com)

Erdogan's Policy Towards Kurds: "We Will Wipe Out Terroristan [i.e., Kurdistan]"

During his rise to power, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan initiated a peace process between 2009 and 2015 to attract Kurdish voters. However, in 2015, after the U.S.-backed Syrian Kurds successfully thwarted ISIS in Rojava/northern Syria and established an autonomous region, Erdoğan threatened that Turkey would "never allow" a Kurdish state to exist in the region.[6]

Since then, Erdoğan has said on multiple occasions that Turkey will not allow the establishment of a "terroristan" (i.e. Kurdistan).[7] In order to achieve this, Turkey has carried out a series of ethnic cleansing campaigns against Kurds to weaken the prospect of Kurdish self-rule.[8]

By referring to Kurdistan as "terroristan," Erdoğan not only dehumanizes an entire nation but also legitimizes collective punishment against the Kurds. "The Turkish government has no project for the Kurds that will not cost blood and tears," said Tuncer Bakırhan, co-chairman of the pro-Kurdish Peoples' Equality and Democracy (DEM) Party in Turkey. He criticized Erdoğan for his pro-war policies and condemned the Turkish government's portrayal of Kurds. "Mr. Erdoğan, the place you call Terroristan is Kurdistan," he said.[9]

A key principle of Turkey's policy toward Kurds is ethnic cleansing and demographic engineering. In 2019 during Turkey's invasion of Kurdish lands in northern Syria, then United States National Security Advisor John Bolton recalled: "Erdoğan appeared to believe that 'the only good Kurd is a dead Kurd,'" adding that the Marine General Joseph Dunford, who at the time was Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, had previously warned "Turkey's immediate military objective in Syria would be to expel Kurds from the area along the Turkey-Syria border and then move hundreds of thousands of Syrian refugees from Turkey back across the border into the now-largely-depopulated border zone."[10]

In a leaked internal memo, William V. Roebuck, former U.S. Deputy Special Envoy to the Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS, called the Turkish operation "ethnic cleansing by another name." Roebuck criticized the Washington for not doing enough to stop the Turkish incursion that led to "what can only be described as war crimes and ethnic cleansing." Roebuck said that the Turks cited border concerns to justify attacking the Syrian Kurdish forces but asserted that "the border stayed quiet on the Syrian side the entire time" until Turkey violated it with the invasion.[11] "Turkey is today's Nazi Germany. Erdoğan believes that a Good Kurd is a Dead Kurd," said Diliman Abdulkader, Kurdish activist and president of American Friends of Kurdistan.[12]

Turkey's "Safe Zone" In Syrian And Iraqi Kurdistan: A Codename For The Ethnic Cleansing Of Kurds

Erdogan's first step in erasing "terroristan" was the militarization of northern Kurdistan in 2015. Between 2015 and 2019, the Turkish army killed thousands of Kurdish civilians, destroyed large parts of Kurdish cities, and displaced more than 500,000 Kurds. The political repercussions have been equally disastrous, fueling extreme polarization, political repression, and violations of human rights.[13] More recently, even dancing or singing Kurdish songs has resulted in arrests and charges of "spreading terrorist propaganda."[14]

After devastating much of the Kurdish cities and displacing their populations in Turkish-occupied Kurdistan, Turkey revived the "Arab Belt"[15] project in Syria in July 2015, renaming it the "Safe Zone."

Between 1967 and 1973, Syria implemented violent Arabization policies targeting the Kurds. For this purpose, in 1973 an 'Arab belt' that was 300 kilometers long and 10-15 kilometers wide was created along Syrian-Turkish border to Arabize the region and to separate the Kurds from their co-ethnics across the border. Around 140,000 Kurds were deported from their ancestral lands to towns in Syria's southern desert and Arabs were settled on Kurdish lands.[16] Forty-one Arab settlements were built on lands confiscated from Kurds with 233,000 hectares given to Arab families.[17]

Turkey designed and implemented a range of ethnic cleansing policies against Kurds in Iraqi and Syrian Kurdistan under the pretext of protecting "Turkish national security" and creating a "Safe Zone" 30 kilometers deep into Iraq and Syria along its southern borders to resettle 3.5 million Syrian refugees. The borders of Erdogan's "safe zone" encompass the homeland of nearly all of Syrian Kurds and almost half of Iraqi Kurdistan.[18] It is worth noting that, in August 2024, Iraq recently signed a security agreement that permits Turkish military operations in Iraqi Kurdistan without including a clause for the withdrawal of Turkish forces. Hence, Turkey has the Iraqi government's approval.[19]

Erdoğan has made it clear that Turkey's goal is to radically re-engineer the demographics of the area. In an interview with the state-run TRT channel, Erdoğan openly justified the rationale behind his ethnic cleansing of Kurds, saying: "What is important is to prepare a controlled life in this enormous area, and the most suitable people for it are Arabs. These areas are not suitable for the lifestyle of Kurds, because these areas are virtually desert."[20]

As Kurdish analyst Shukriya Bradost remarked "it is clear that Erdogan's claim is illogical. Added to that, there is no desert in northern Syria and the lifestyle of Arabs has changed as well, they do not live in the desert." Bradost then said that Erdogan's real aim is to "change the Kurdish region in the Middle East by eliminating Kurdish social and political structures."[21]

Turkey carried out two military operations into the Kurdish region in northern Syria from 2018 to 2019, killing, injuring, or maiming thousands of Kurds and uprooting over 500,000 more. Amnesty International said that Turkish military forces and allied rebels carried out serious violations during the operations that amounted to war crimes, including summary killings and unlawful attacks that killed and injured civilians.[22]

The killing of Hevrin Khalaf, a prominent young female Syrian-Kurdish politician, was one of them. Turkish-backed militants stopped her SUV, removed her from the car, broke her jaw and leg, and dragged her by her hair until the skin of her scalp detached before repeatedly shooting her until she died.[23]

"On October 12, 2019 as world media was transmitting appalling images of civilian deaths and displacement within the context of the Turkish operation 'Peace Spring' in Sere Kaniye (Ras Al-Ain) and Tel Abyad of northeast Syria known as Rojava, more shocking footage emerged... It was circulated Hevrin Khalaf was dead, rather murdered savagely. Khalaf, a Kurdish female engineer from the city of Derik (Al-Malikiyah) in far northeast Syria, was an active Syrian Kurdish politician. She was serving as Secretary-General of Future Syria Party. Hevrin Khalaf was taken from the car. She was tortured and beaten by blunt objects. Her legs were broken. She was dragged from her hair until it was ripped from her scalp. Finally, she was shot dead. Her body, to the appeasement of killers, was riddled with bullets. Mutilated, Hevrin's body was defiled to the whole world. However, nobody recognized her; even family members could not verify the dead body was Hevrin. 'I moved a cloth that covered her chest and face and found nothing left of her body but a small piece from her jaw,' her mother Souad Muhammad told North Press at the time." (Source: Npasyria.com/en/85480/, October 12, 2022)

Hevrin Khalaf (Source: X)

Even though the majority of Kurds are Muslims, Turkey has also given a religious justification to its operations besides claims of "national security." When Turkey launched the military operation in 2018, the religious authority in Turkey described it as "Al-Fath [conquest]" and called on clerics to read Chapter 48 of the Quran, titled Al-Fath. Over 90,000 mosques around Turkey gave sermons on conquest and asked their congregations to pray for the troops.[24] Erdoğan's popularity received a boost, with some three-quarters of Turks supporting the operation against Kurds.[25]

On October 11, 2019, President of the Presidency of Religious Affairs Ali Erbaş: "For the success of #OperationPeaceSpring [2019 Turkish offensive into north-eastern Syria against the Syrian Kurdish groups], we recited Surah Al-Fath and prayed together with our security forces and citizens during the Fajr prayer at Muğla Şahidi Mosque. (Source: @DIBAliErbas)

It is worth noting that Turkey carried out two military operations into the Kurdish region in northern Syria from 2018 to 2019, killing, injuring, or maiming thousands of Kurds and uprooting over 500,000 more. In 2018, after the invasion of Afrin, speaking at his party's convention in İstanbul's Üskudar district on April 16, 2018, Erdoğan said that the Turkish-backed Free Syrian Army (FSA), along with the Turkish military, was fighting against what he called "godless and faithless" people in Syria. He branded Muslim Kurds aligned with the Democratic Union Party (PYD) as unbelievers and justifying the battle against them in religious references often borrowed from Quranic texts."[26] The second operation began on October 9, 2019, it was during this operation that Erdoğan heavily used religion to justify his operation. Clerics were under an order by Diyanet, Turkey's Ministry of Religious Affairs, to read aloud Quran Chapter 48, which is titled Al-Fath, during morning prayers at 90,000 mosques until "Operation Olive Branch" was completed.[27]

On October 10, 2019, the official page of Diyanet (Presidency of Religious Affairs), President of the Presidency of Religious Affairs Ali Erbaş recited the first nine verses of Fath 48:1-48:9: "Indeed, We have granted you a clear triumph ˹O Prophet˺ (48:1); so that Allah may forgive you for your past and future shortcomings, perfect His favour upon you, guide you along the Straight Path (48:2); and so that Allah will help you tremendously (48:3); He is the One Who sent down serenity upon the hearts of the believers so that they may increase even more in their faith. To Allah ˹alone˺ belong the forces of the heavens and the earth. And Allah is All-Knowing, All-Wise (48:4); So He may admit believing men and women into Gardens under which rivers flow—to stay there forever—and absolve them of their sins. And that is a supreme achievement in the sight of Allah (48:5); Also ˹so that˺ He may punish hypocrite men and women and polytheistic men and women, who harbour evil thoughts of Allah. May ill-fate befall them! Allah is displeased with them. He has condemned them and prepared for them Hell. What an evil destination! (48:6); To Allah ˹alone˺ belong the forces of the heavens and the earth. And Allah is Almighty, All-Wise. (48:7); Indeed, ˹O Prophet,˺ We have sent you as a witness, a deliverer of good news, and a warner, (48:8); so that you ˹believers˺ may have faith in Allah and His Messenger, support and honour him, and glorify Allah morning and evening. (48:9)" The tweet reads: "For the success of the #OperationPeaceSpring, Surah Al-Fath was recited and prayers were made during the Fajr prayers in all mosques." (Source: @diyanetbasin)

An October 9, 2019 tweet by Turkish Religious Affairs Minister Ali Erbaş announced: "The Surah Al-Fath will be recited, and prayers will be made in all our mosques before the Fajr prayer throughout the operation, with the plea for our military units and security forces, especially those fighting against terrorism within the country and abroad, particularly east of the Euphrates, to be granted victory and success." (Source: DIBAliErbas)

Turkey's "Safe Zone" In Northern Syria Is Far From Safe

Yet, Turkey's "safe zone" in northern Syria is far from safe. In a recent report, Human Right Watch stated that Turkey's "safe zone" in Syria is "demonstrably among the most dangerous places in the country."[28] Reports by human rights watchdogs, local sources, and U.S. Department of State, have documented killings, abductions, unlawful detention, forceful disappearances, land seizures, sexual violence, and torture by Turkey and Turkish-backed armed groups.[29]

In occupied Kurdish territories in northern Syria, a 2023 report by the U.S. Department of State stressed: "Abuses by armed Syrian opposition groups supported by Turkey (Türkiye) in the northern region of the country reportedly focused on Kurdish and Yezidi residents and other civilians, and included: killings; abduction and disappearance of civilians; physical abuse, including sexual violence; forced displacement from homes; looting and seizure of private property; transfer of detained civilians across the border into Turkey; recruitment or use of child soldiers; and looting and desecration of religious sites... the Turkish-backed Syrian National Army (SNA), reportedly arrested, detained, tortured, killed, or otherwise abused numerous Kurdish activists and individuals. SNA members continued detaining, beating, and kidnapping Kurdish women in Afrin and Ra's Al-Ayn. Kurdish women activists were particularly affected, with some ceasing all engagement in public life as they feared detention by the SNA."[30]

Human Rights Watch also found that Turkish Armed Forces and intelligence agencies were involved in carrying out and overseeing abuses: "Turkish officials are not merely bystanders to abuses, but bear responsibility as the occupying power and, in some cases, have been directly involved in apparent war crimes in what it calls a 'safe zone.'"[31] Human Rights Watch also documented violations of housing, land, and property rights, including widespread looting and pillaging as well as property seizures and extortion, and the failure of attempted accountability measures to curb abuses or to provide restitution to victims. "Kurdish residents have borne the brunt of the abuses due to their perceived ties to Kurdish-led forces that control vast swathes of northeast Syria."[32]

Furthermore, Turkey has also committed ecocide in occupied territories. Burning Kurdistan's forests has long been a Turkish strategy.[33] It is estimated that 21 million trees have been cut down by Turkish-backed settlers in the occupied Kurdish area since 2018.[34]

A day before October 7, 2023, Turkey launched an operation against Syrian Kurds which continued throughout the winter. As the world's attention was diverted by the war in Gaza, Turkey carried out a series of airstrikes, destroying 80 percent of the civilian infrastructure, including silos, water stations, factories, schools, hospitals, power stations, and oil facilities. The destruction of vital civilian infrastructure left millions of people without food, water, fuel, and electricity in the middle of winter.[35] Furthermore, Turkey has cut off water supply to more than a million people in Hasakah province 36 times since 2019, forcing a million people to ration water due to water shortage.[36] Many people, especially children, have fallen ill due to the water crisis.[37] Despite this humanitarian crisis, there has been no intervention from the international community or organizations like the UN to compel Turkey to stop destroying civilian infrastructure or weaponizing drinking water against civilians.

After the destruction in Syrian Kurdistan, Turkey launched a massive military operation into Iraqi Kurdistan in June 2024, which continues as of September 16, 2024, again exploiting the world's distraction with the war in Gaza. Earlier in March 2024, Erdoğan announced: "if everything goes according to plan, by the summer we will have finally solved the problem of our Iraqi borders." "We are making preparations that will give new nightmares to those who think they can bring Turkey to its knees with a 'terroristan' on its southern borders," declared Erdoğan, adding that Turkey will never allow "the establishment of a 'terroristan' in the north of Syria and Iraq, just beyond its southern borders." He threatened: "We will wipe out terroristan."[38]

Turkey has penetrated 40-50 kilometers deep into Iraq Kurdistan, many civilians have been killed, and around 600 villages evacuated.[39] Turkey's occupation of Kurdistan also serves another goal: expanding its territories and building the "Development Road," a megaproject designed to strengthen Turkey's influence across the region by connecting Qatar, Iraq, and Turkey.[40]

After the destruction in Syrian Kurdistan, Turkey launched a massive military operation into Iraqi Kurdistan in June 2024, which continues as of September 16, 2024. The operation has become even more intensified. Turkey currently controls roughly 80 percent of Duhok province, one of the four provinces that form Iraqi Kurdistan. (Sources: Al-Sharq Al-Awsat, Kurdistan Watch, March 2024)

Iraqi MPs questioned Iraqi Defense Minister Thabet Al-Abbasi over a security agreement with Turkey that reportedly permits Turkish military actions in Iraq without the inclusion of a withdrawal clause. "Speaking to Iraqi media, Ahmed Al-Moussawi, a member of Iraq's Al-Sadiqoun Bloc, stated that the agreement, signed between Baghdad and Ankara, gives Turkish forces permission to conduct military attacks in Iraq 'on the pretext of targeting the [Kurdistan Workers Party] PKK.' He pointed out that 'there is no provision for the withdrawal of Turkish forces from Iraq,' raising concerns among Iraqi officials about violations of sovereignty." (Source: Medyanews.net/iraqi-lawmakers-to-question-defence-minister-over-turkey-iraq-security-deal/, September 15, 2024)

Iraq's Parliamentary Defense Committee: The presence of permanent Turkish military bases is a significant sign of blatant occupation of Iraqi territory. (Source: @ahad_en, September 3, 2024)

Turkey's proposed safe zone in Syria, half of it is already occupied. The 30 km strip contains almost all Kurdish areas in Syria. (Source: Ahaber.com.tr, October 18, 2019)

Colonialism In Occupied Kurdish Territories, Planned By Turkey, Funded By Qatar

Turkish-controlled areas of Syria comprise an 8,835-square kilometer region covering over 1,000 settlements, including towns such as Al-Bab, Azaz, Jarabulus, Rajo, Tal Abyad, and Ras Al-Ayn, of these nearly 600 Kurdish villages and towns have been ethnically cleansed and transformed into settlements for Arab and Turkmen families. Before Turkish occupation in 2018, Kurds made up around 90 percent of the population which has drastically dropped to 20 percent due to ethnic cleansing.

Arabs comprised around two percent of the population before 2018, Turkey's plan is to settle more than threemillion Arabs in occupied Kurdish territories, so far more than 500,000 Arabs have already been settled in the region,[41] making it the largest demographic change through ethnic cleansing in the 21st century. A report by Al-Monitor in 2021 described Afrin region as "a laboratory for Turkey's experiments in demographic engineering and cultural imperialism, underpinned by a determination to prevent Syria's Kurds from establishing self-rule."[42]

Qatar Has Been Involved In The Ethnic Cleansing Of Kurds Directly Or Indirectly

In 2023, Turkey launched the construction of nearly a quarter of a million housing units in occupied Kurdish territories. "With the support of Qatar, the work to build houses in Syria, which can accommodate one million refugees, continues," Turkish President Erdoğan said in May 2023.[43]

Speaking of building settlements for refugees, Turkish Interior Minister Süleyman Soylu announced that Qatari Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Aal-Thani and Erdoğan "have taken a big step toward addressing one of the world's most important issues."[44]

Qatar has been involved in the ethnic cleansing of Kurds directly or indirectly since 2018 when it openly supported the invasion of Afrin,[45] and again in 2019 it defended Turkey's operation against Kurds.

Ankara had acted against an "imminent threat for Turkish security," Qatar's Foreign Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Aal-Thani said at a Global Security Forum meeting in Doha, claiming that "We don't see Turkey against the Kurds. Turkey is against a group of people within the Kurds."[46] According to local sources, Qatar has been offering financial assistance to Arab families to encourage them to settle in the occupied Kurdish region.[47] David M. Mañá, a Spanish journalist specializing in the Kurdish issue, points to "a forced repopulation campaign" moving displaced Arabs from the rest of Syria into the Kurdish enclave: "It's not just about expelling the local Kurdish population; they also want to erase all traces of their language or self-government. Today the Turkish flag is flown even in schools, where Kurdish is no longer taught, but Turkish is."[48]

More than 100 settlements have been built so far by Turkey in areas under its control. This Arabization and colonization policy of Kurdish territories has been ongoing not only with funds from Qatar but also from other Muslim countries.[49] Settlements have received funding from Arab and Muslim organizations in Kuwait, Pakistan, Europe, Palestine, and Turkey itself.[50] Since the Turkish occupation, Islamist organizations linked to the Muslim Brotherhood and supported by Turkey have constructed many settlements in Afrin to house the families of Turkish-backed militants who came from other areas of Syria. [51] UK-based "One Ummah" is one of the Muslim organizations in the West that has been involved in building settlements in the occupied Kurdish region of Afrin.[52]

In June 2024, Qatar Red Crescent announced the construction of 13 settlements on occupied Kurdish territories in Afrin region. As reported by "Human Rights Organization -Afrin -Syria," This announcement came after the opening of the "Humanity First" village on May 28, 2024, in the town of Susunbat in the Qabasin countryside in the Al-Bab region, which was described as the largest integrated multi-story village established in northern Syria, consisting of 143 independent buildings. Each apartment has an area of 50 square meters, consists of two bedrooms, a living room, and is furnished with basic necessities. According to Mohamed Salah Ibrahim, director of the Relief and International Programs Sector at the Qatar Red Crescent, this village includes 1,136 residential apartments. The opening was attended by Sedat Sazik, deputy governor of Turkey's Gaziantep province, Mahmut Coşkun, director of the Disaster and Emergency Management Authority (AFAD) in Gaziantep province, and representatives of the Qatar Red Crescent in Turkey, the Turkish Red Crescent, and Qatar Charity."[53]

The "Human Rights Organization -Afrin -Syria" further stated: "Contrary to the statements of Qatari officials that the purpose of the projects is humanitarian relief, they only aim to stabilize demographic change and exclude Kurdish citizens, the indigenous people of the region, from any relief assistance, especially after the devastating earthquake occurred on June 2, 2023."[54]

Afrin internally displaced people (IDPs) also decried the intervention of Qatar Red Crescent in building settlements. Hassan Hassan, IDPs from the occupied town of Sherawa in Afrin, said to ANHA news agency: "The Qatar Red Crescent's goal is clearly, along with Turkey, to eradicate the Kurdish people, through the demographic change of our Kurdish regions." He then called on international legal actors to set up commissions of investigation and accountability for the perpetrators of these crimes and put an end to these violations in occupied Afrin.[55]

Kuwait

In 2022, Turkey-based "Beyaz Eller [White Hands]" association, supported among others by the "Khayr Al Kuwait Association," completed the construction of a residential compound near Kafr Safra village in Jendires district in Afrin countryside, northwest of Aleppo. This settlement consisted of 250 houses with complete infrastructure, a school, a mosque, and shops. The settlement was built on land after trees were cut down.[56] Beyaz Eller has been described as a "Muslim Brotherhood charity." In 2021, it was reported that Beyaz Eller, which Qatari associations also support,[57] had completed the construction of a shari'a school in the center of Afrin.[58]

Another example of settlement is the village of "Kuwait Al-Rahma," located between Qibar and Al-Khalidiyyah villages in Shirawa district in Afrin countryside, which was built with the support of the Kuwaiti "Rahma International Society" and donors from Kuwait, according to the Al-Sham Humanitarian Foundation, which implemented the settlement project.[59] The Kuwaiti daily Al-Watan revealed, in a report published on September 2, 2021, that the Kuwait Al-Rahma village is only one among other villages that will be built in the region.[60]

Satellite images show the Kuwait Al-Rahma village, which was built as part of the "residential community" built at the foot of Jabal Al-Ahlam. (Source: Stj-sy.org)

The opening ceremony of Kuwait Al-Rahma village in Afrin, 2021 (Source: Alraimedia.com)

The opening ceremony of Kuwait Al-Rahma village in Afrin, 2021 (Source: Alraimedia.com)[61]

Palestinian Organizations

Among the organizations funding Arab settlements on Kurdish land in northern Syria there are also Palestinian ones.[62] In 2023, a report by Inter Press Service (IPS) revealed that at least three Palestinian NGOs were involved in the settlement projects: They raise funds from Palestinians and channel the money to Turkish banks to fund the projects.[63]

"Jam'iat Al 'Aish bi'Karamah [Living with Dignity Association]," which is linked to Muslim Brotherhood and the government of Turkey,[64] is one among several Palestinian associations funding settlements. According to the media, the organization first project included the construction of 112 apartments and 10 mosques in Afrin in 2021.[65]

In 2023, the Basma settlement was established by the "Living with Dignity Association" in Shadere, a Yazidi village in Sherawa district in Afrin's southern countryside. As reported by the media: "The settlement was co-funded with Kuwaiti and Turkish state-sponsored groups, as well as Muslim Brotherhood-linked associations from the US and Britain. What remains of the original Yazidi population has been forced to attend Islamic education by local factions, under threat of force."[66]

"Ajnadin," an NGO headquartered in Bait Hanina in East Jerusalem, is behind several projects, such as the Adjanin Palestine settlement, which opened in January 2023.[67] Alboraq Charity, another Palestinian NGO, is also mentioned among the organizations raising funds for settlements.[68] Wafa Al-Muhsinin Foundation is an Istanbul-based Palestinian organization, involved in the Al Zaeem complex settlement in Jindires. On August 28, 2023, the Wafaa Al-Muhsinin Foundation announced that 34 houses had been completed, and that the People of Al-Zaeem village, in East Jerusalem, had financed the construction of the settlement. [69]

Arab IDPs waving the Palestinian flag, as they are moving in their new houses built with Palestinian donations in the Kurdish city of Afrin. Date: August 28, 2022. (Source: Wafaa Al-Mohsenin)

"Residential units project for displaced persons in northern Syria, funded by donations from Al Zaim village, Quds city," reads the banner. (Source: Ajnadin's social media)

Pakistan

North Press agency reported the Pakistani Faizan Global Relief Foundation (FGRF) and Türkiye Diyanet Foundation, a non-profit organization established by the Presidency of Religious Affairs of Turkey, began, in March 2024, the construction of a new settlement named "Al-Madina Village" in Sharran district, northeast of the city of Afrin.[70] The new settlement consists of 84 housing units and is planned to house Arab families from Homs. The construction is expected to be completed by October 2024. The settlement was built on land that was previously a pine forest, which was cut down by Turkish-backed militias.[71]

A settlement built by FGRF, a Pakistani NGO, in Afrin region, northwestern Syria, Aug. 15, 2024. (Source: North Press agency)[72]

Conclusion

Since the 1920s, the Kurdish people and Kurdistan have endured immense loss and devastation, including the forced displacement, forced assimilation, or deaths of millions of Kurds. Turkey's recent invasions of Kurdistan and its military expansion into Iraq and Syria are driven not only by anti-Kurdism and the desire to crush the Kurdish dream of independence, but also by Neo-Ottomanism. By seizing Kurdish lands, Turkey gains control over vital oil and natural gas resources, which bolster its military power. Furthermore, the long-term consequences of Turkish expansionism will also be detrimental to the interests of the Western countries.

As many as 15,000 Kurdish men and women fighters died fighting ISIS in Iraq and Syria. ISIS caliphate was eliminated on the ground by Kurdish fighters supported by the U.S.-led international coalition. The sacrifices of Kurds saved millions of lives as well as the region and the world from a terrorist jihadist organization.

Kurdish regions have been safe havens for millions of refugees, IDPs fleeing violence, and especially for religious minorities. Turkey has shown that its ultimate goal is the destruction of Kurdistan and committing ethnic cleansing against Kurds and religious minorities. The Western world has shown no political interest or moral consideration to protect the Kurds and the two autonomous Kurdish regions. It is strategic responsibility to halt the Turkish expansionist project aiming to annex more lands and re-create a Neo-Ottoman empire.

* Himdad Mustafa is a Kurdish scholar and expert on Kurdish, Turkish and Iranian affairs.