The city of Afrin in northeast Syria has been occupied by Turkish affiliated forces since 2018. The Kurdish residents of Afrin have been subject to colonisation ever since, a policy which amounts to an ethnic cleansing of the city, aimed at marginalising its Kurdish residents.
At Turkey’s behest, Islamist-affiliated organisations, together with states and Islamic charitable foundations are bolstering the soft power of Islamism in the region. As part of this initiative, a Canada-based charity – Human Concern International (HCI) – has helped to establish ‘Hope Village’. But, critics say that the village will house families connected to Islamist groups and facilitate demographic engineering in the area.
This village will house 300 families—totalling 2,100 individuals. It includes a clinic and a school with a capacity for 1,000 students.
A group of Kurdish campaigners from Canada made the following statement, critiquing the project: “for Kurdish communities, this “dream” represents a nightmare. Projects like the Village of Hope are not merely about providing shelter—they are about erasing an entire culture. Activists argue that these settlements are part of Turkey’s calculated campaign to permanently alter Afrin’s ethnic and political landscape. By resettling jihadist militants and their families, Turkey is building a buffer zone of loyal, pro-Ankara communities in historically Kurdish territories.”
The Hope Village is part of a broader project orchestrated by the Turkish state in collaboration with Islamic charities, including those based in Canada and other Western countries, aimed at facilitating demographic changes in the northeast of Syria. Another example is the Basma settlement, which was established in Afrin by the Living with Dignity Association (Jamia’at al-Aish Bikarama) in the Yazidi community of Shadere.
A 2022 report by Afrinpost identified HCI as a key financial sponsor of the project. Now, two years later, HCI has publicly acknowledged its financial support for the settlement, which is reportedly funded by donations from Iftikhar Ahmed Sheikh, the Global Director of Programs at Human Concern International.
Previously, the charity had announced that the project aimed to house more than 3,500 individuals.
In recent years, several Arab countries have provided substantial support to jihadist and extremist groups in Syria, often through covert channels and by utilising global financial networks. This assistance, given in the context of the Turkish occupation of Afrin, has resulted in the promotion of Turkification policies, the settlement of Islamist groups in Kurdistan, and the destruction of the region’s historical and cultural heritage.
The opening of Hope Village has provoked widespread outrage among Kurds and human rights activists, who condemn the ethnic cleansing policies promoted by the Turkish state.
