The details of the Syria safe zone envisaged by Turkey emerged Friday, with the eventual goal being to resettle about 1 million Syrians within the area in the east of the Euphrates.
According to the plan, which President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan shared with U.S. officials according to several Turkish media outlets, 140 villages and 10 district centers will be established within the 30-40 km deep safe zone in northern Syria, housing 5,000 and 30,000 inhabitants each, respectively.
Each village will have 1,000 houses, and each district will have 6,000 new homes built, making 200,000 new residences in total. The construction is expected to cost about $26.4 billion.
Each household in villages will have its own farmland, and the whole residential area in the safe zone will have 11 mosques, nine schools, five youth centers and two indoor sports halls will be built to accommodate all the needs of the Syrians resettling in the area.
Eight districts will have clinics with 10 beds for inpatient treatment, whereas two districts will have a capacity of 200 beds. Establishing an industrial site is also among the plans.
Turkish and U.S. military officials agreed on August 7 to set up a safe zone in northern Syria and develop a peace corridor to facilitate the movement of displaced Syrians who want to return home. They also agreed to establish a joint operations center.
Last week, Turkey also announced that it would launch a housing project for refugees in the de-escalation zone in Syria's northwestern Idlib province. A total of 100 houses will be built for the disabled and orphans as part of the project, which will take six months to construct.
Amid ongoing efforts to resolve the humanitarian crisis in Syria, Turkey has intensified diplomatic contacts with international actors such as the U.S., Russia and Iran. In addition to these diplomatic efforts, Turkey also conducts humanitarian projects to provide shelter for victims of the civil war. Therefore, a housing project will be built by Turkey in Idlib's rural area.
