Are the housing settlements being built in Afrin, under Turkish supervision and using international donor funding, benefitting internally displaced civilians?

A new report published earlier this month by Syrians for Truth & Justice suggests the answer is no.

According to the report, the Governor of the Turkish state of Hatay, Rahmi Doğan, is directly responsible for the construction of these settlements, giving several local and international relief organizations, as well as the Afrin City Local Council, the green light to build.

The construction site is the "Mountain of Kurds," a fertile and historically Kurdish region. Large swathes of the area’s vegetation have been eradicated and replaced by concrete buildings.

So who are these settlements being built for? STJ claims that while these projects are promoted as beneficial for civilians, it's in fact the Turkish-backed National Army's fighters and their families that are the actual beneficiaries.

The report gives the example of "Kuwait Al-Rahma," a settlement built with Kuwaiti funding. In this village, the investigation claims that only 25% of beneficiaries are civilians—the remainder are SNA fighters.

Are donors aware of where their money is going? https://stj-sy.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/Housing-Settlements-in-Afrin-1.pdf