The Syrian Observatory For Human Rights

After protests in “de-escalation zone” | Turkish forces present offers to owners of land where Turkish posted located

SOHR sources have reported that Turkish forces in Idlib province have notified the owners of houses and farmlands, which Turkish forces are stationed in, to check the command headquarters in these people’s properties in order to reach definitive solution to this issue.

 

In this context, Turkish forces have offered these residents to pay the price of their properties or to give them houses in the complexes that Turkish charities and organizations have constructed in Idlib instead. However, destroyed and damaged properties and other properties which are near the Turkish posts have been excluded.

 

This development comes after sit-in protests and demonstrations by residents in areas near the Turkish posts, during which the protestors demanded Turkish forces evacuate their houses and land.

 

SOHR sources had said that guards of the Turkish post in Abyan Sam’an village fired bullets in the air to disperse the crowd of demonstrators demanding the evacuation of their houses, which Turkish army and its proxy factions seized and turned into military posts.

 

In the meantime, the demonstrators assaulted and pelt three guards of the Turkish-backed 23rd Division with stones, which caused light injuries and bruises to the guards. It is worth noting that residents were demanding the evacuation of their homes for the third day in a row, through demonstrations and sit-in protests near Turkish posts.

 

On January 22, Syrian Observatory activists monitored tens of residents participating in a demonstration in front of Turkish forces’ headquarters in Abbin Sam’an town in the western countryside of Aleppo, demanding the Turkish forces evacuate their houses, nearly a year after Turkish forces were stationed there. In a video footage, of which the Syrian Observatory obtained a copy, one of the protesters said “we and our children are homeless, while they have been residing in our houses for a year. This is unacceptable. They have to find another alternative.”

 

While on December 23, Reliable sources informed the Syrian Observatory that soldiers in Turkish posts in Idlib countryside felled olive trees near regime positions in the east of Idlib city in order to use them for heating, as they ran out of their gasoline allocations. Olive trees near some Turkish posts, known as “artillery posts”, overlooking off-roads between Bennish and Taftanaz, and between Binnish and Afes were found broken with using bare hands and saws. However, the Turkish soldiers claimed that they have cut down these trees with the aim to boost and fortify their posts.