Turkiye begins work on 240,000 homes to repatriate refugees in northern Syria

Turkiye has offered refuge to more than 3 million people fleeing violence in Syria since war broke out there in 2011. (AFP)
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Updated 26 May 2023
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Turkiye begins work on 240,000 homes to repatriate refugees in northern Syria

  • Anti-refugee sentiments are running high in Turkiye and President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has hardened his stance toward people displaced by war as he fights for reelection

ANKARA: Turkiye has begun building 240,000 homes to resettle refugees in opposition-held northern Syria as the repatriation issue takes center stage in Sunday’s presidential election runoff.

“Syrian refugees living in Turkiye will settle in the houses ... as part of a dignified, voluntary, safe return,” Turkish Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu said at the launch of the project on a disused airstrip on the outskirts of Al-Ghandura, a town in the Jarabulus area near the Turkish border.

Builders with heavy machinery have already started work, and the project is expected to be complete in three years, Soylu said.

Turkiye has offered refuge to more than 3 million people fleeing violence in Syria since war broke out there in 2011. Most have “temporary protection” status, leaving them vulnerable to forced return.

“To date, there have been 554,000 voluntary returns,” Soylu said. “There is a serious demand for a voluntary and dignified return to this safe area.”

Anti-refugee sentiments are running high in Turkiye and President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has hardened his stance toward people displaced by war as he fights for reelection.

BACKGROUND

Turkiye has offered refuge to more than 3 million people fleeing violence in Syria since war broke out there in 2011.

He pledged this month to build 200,000 homes in Syria to resettle a million refugees.

Opposition leader Kemal Kilicdaroglu has pledged to “send all the refugees home” if he wins on Sunday.

Erdogan supported early rebel efforts to topple Bashar Assad, and Ankara maintains a military presence in swaths of northern Syria that angers Damascus.

Since 2016, Turkiye has carried out successive ground operations to expel Kurdish forces from border areas of northern Syria.

Its troops and their Syrian proxies control sections of the border, and Erdogan has long sought to establish a “safe zone” 30 km deep the whole length of the frontier.


35 have been killed and 1,200 held in Iran’s economic protests

People walk as shops are closed during protests in Tehran's centuries-old main bazaar, Iran, Tuesday, Jan. 6, 2026. (AP)
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35 have been killed and 1,200 held in Iran’s economic protests

  • Demonstrations show no sign of stopping
  • Govt acknowledges hardships, urges dialogue

DUBAI: The death toll in violence surrounding protests in Iran has risen to at least 35 people, activists said on Tuesday, as the demonstrations showed no signs of stopping.

The figure came from the US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency, which said more than 1,200 people have been detained in the protests, which have been ongoing for more than a week.
It said 29 protesters, four children and two members of Iran’s security forces have been killed. Demonstrations have reached over 250 locations in 27 of Iran’s 31 provinces,
The group, which relies on an activist network inside of Iran for its reporting, has been accurate in past unrest.
The semiofficial Fars news agency reported late on Monday that some 250 police officers and 45 members of the Guard’s all-volunteer Basij force have been hurt in the demonstrations.
 The authorities have acknowledged the economic hardships but accused networks linked to foreign powers of stoking the protests. 
On Tuesday, Iran’s police chief vowed to “deal with the last of these rioters.”
The shopkeepers’ protest continued on Tuesday in the bazaar, with about 150 people focusing on economic demands, Fars reported.
The protests have spread to some cities in western and southern Iran but do not match the scale of unrest that swept the nation in 2022-23 over the death of Mahsa Amini, who died in police custody for violating Iran’s dress code.
However, even though smaller, these protests have quickly expanded ‌from an economic ‌focus to broader frustrations, with some protesters chanting against the country’s clerical rulers.
The police chief, Ahmadreza Radan, was quoted on Tuesday by state media as saying they had drawn a distinction between protesters and rioters, the latter facing arrests on site or following identification by intelligence units.
“I pledge that we will deal with the last of these rioters. It is still time for those who were deceived by foreign services to identify themselves and draw on the Islamic Republic’s greatness,” Radan said.
Fars said ​Tuesday’s gathering of shopkeepers on Saadi street in Tehran ended without “expanding the police’s presence.”
Mohammad, 63, a jewelry shop owner in the bazaar, said there was a heavy presence of riot police and plainclothes security forces inside and around the area.
“They were forcing shopkeepers who were on strike to open their shops. I did not see it myself, but I heard there were clashes outside the bazaar and police fired tear gas,” he said by phone. 
Footage shared on Telegram on Tuesday appeared to show dozens of security forces on motorbikes patrolling the street and the unidentified person who took the clip can be heard saying the security forces had fired tear gas.
President Masoud Pezeshkian has promised reforms to help stabilize the monetary and banking systems and protect purchasing power.
The government has announced a subsidy reform, removing preferential currency exchange rates for importers in favor of direct transfers to Iranians to boost their purchasing ‌power for essential goods. The measure will come into force on Jan. 10.
The central bank chief was also replaced on Dec. 29.
The rial fell further to 1,489,500 on Tuesday, representing a 4 percent fall since the protests started.