Erdogan approves Turkish university’s controversial expansion into Syria

Karwan Faidhi Dri
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan approved a request from a Turkish university to open campuses in Turkish-occupied cities in northern Syria, which some Kurds and others have called an effort to change Syria’s demographics.

Erdogan approved the request to open facilities in Azaz, Al-Bab and Afrin on Thursday, according to a Turkish government release via the official “Gazette.” 
 
“We have ordered to open Economic and Administrative Faculty in Al-Bab, Islamic Sciences Faculty in Azaz and Education Faculty in Afrin which are affiliated to the Gaziantep University’s Presidency,” read the presidential decree. 
 
Gaziantep University, located on the Turkish border with Syria, applied to Turkish education authorities this year to open three facilities in Azaz, Al-Bab and Afrin.
 
This is not the first time the Turkish institute of higher education has expanded into Syria. Gaziantep University also opened a vocational training school in Jarabulus in October 2018. 

Jarabulus and Al-Bab have been controlled by Turkish Army and its Syrian proxies in the framework of Operation Euphrates Shield since 2016. The largely Kurdish enclave of Afrin was taken by these forces during Operation Olive Branch in 2018. 

Ali Gur, the rector of the university, told the state-owned Anadolu Agency (AA) in late May that their decision to apply to open new campuses follows increasing demands for education in northern Syria. 

"There was a high demand from local assemblies and provincial leaders. I went [to northern Syria] myself and saw the demand, they really need it," Gur said, adding that “some 2,700 prospective students have already taken proficiency exams.” 

There will also be scholarships for those Syrians who left school due to Syrian unrest but decided to return to the country, according to Gur. 

The opening of a Turkish university branch in Afrin concerns Kurds there. Afrin was previously controlled by the People’s Protection Units (YPG), a Kurdish paramilitary group that is supported by the US and has fought both the Islamic State (ISIS) and Turkish-backed Syrian rebels. The YPG turned the city into a canton after taking it in 2012, and established Kurdish-language education after decades of a ban on the language by successive Syrian regimes. 

The YPG-affiliated Hawar News Agency (ANHA) said Gaziantep University opening branches in the city “confirms” that the Turkish government wants to carry out demographic change and spread his version of Islam in the region.
 
“Observers believe that Erdogan and through these colleges will seek to spread the teachings of the Islamic religion according to his own vision,” read ANHA’s article on the university news.
 
Some also described the move as a part of a Turkish takeover of northern Syria on social media.


The YPG took over much of northeast Syria following its victories against ISIS after the militant group’s rise in 2014. The YPG receives support from the US via its participation in the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), which also includes Arab and Christian anti-ISIS groups.

Turkey views the YPG as the extension of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) - the Turkish militant group that has fought with Turkey for decades. 

In August, Turkey and the US agreed to establish a so-called “safe zone” in northern Syria and later turn it into a “peace corridor” to return millions of Syrian who fled to Turkey since Syrian unrest started in 2011. The effort was part of continuous US efforts to placate Turkey’s concerns of the YPG on its border. 

Turkey is not happy about the progress on the zone, and warned it would take unilateral actions to establish one if the US does not take practical steps by the end of September. 

Erdogan renewed his threats to attack the SDF in the north as this deadline expired on Tuesday. 


Four days after the Turkish president’s fresh threats, both Turkish and US militaries conducted new patrols in the planned safe zone.