ISTANBUL, Oct. 27 (Xinhua) -- Turkey's plan to resettle Syrians on recently-captured territory in Syria does not look feasible, analysts argued, as Ankara hopes to involve the United Nations for collection of funds for the project amid failure to find donors so far.
Ankara is planning to send back 1 million to 2 million Syrian refugees being sheltered on Turkish soil to a so-called safe zone being established on land seized by the Turkish military from the U.S.-backed Kurdish militia in northern Syria around mid-month.
Ankara's plan is at best extremely difficult to achieve, given the growing international opposition to the Turkish operation, Faruk Logoglu, a former senior diplomat, told Xinhua.
The Turkish military operation, which was launched on Oct. 9 but has halted since Oct. 17 following respective agreements with the United States and Russia, has sparked widespread condemnation from around the world, including from the United States, the European Union and the Arab League.
"The project does not look feasible under the current circumstances," said Murat Bilhan, a former diplomat, who noted that a significant portion of the Syrians are seeking to settle in Turkey "for good."
Turkey officially hosts more than 3.6 million Syrians, who are described as "guests" and provided with temporary protection rather than counted as refugees.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said lately that Ankara would contact the United Nations for an international donor conference to be organized, while revealing that Ankara has so far failed to get the international community to provide funds for the costly resettlement project.
Erdogan himself did not look much optimistic about the fate of the project, as he said, "I cannot say if we would get a result from this."
"Settling such huge numbers would require great finances, but there seems to be no interest or willingness on the part of the international community to help out," said Logoglu.
The EU said it would not provide any financial aid for the project.
The EU should contribute to this project as it counts on Ankara to block the migration of refugees to Europe, but the prospect of an EU funding looks rather dim following the Turkish operation, Faruk Sen, an analyst on Turkey-EU relations, told Xinhua.
In July, the EU toyed with the idea of providing 24.5 billion euros (27.2 billion U.S. dollars) for the resettlement of Syrians back to their homeland, but that project is now off the bloc's agenda amid much criticism of Ankara's military operation, Sen noted.
Turkey's resettlement plan for Syrians, which Erdogan also presented in his speech at the UN General Assembly last month, involves the construction of 10 towns and 140 villages in the safe zone.
The project, under which a total of 200,000 houses are to be built for 1 million Syrians in the safe zone, is estimated to cost almost 26.5 billion U.S. dollars.
Other than houses, infrastructure and conditions for people to be able to settle there need to be put in place as well, underlined Bilhan, vice chairman of the Istanbul-based Turkish Asian Center For Strategic Studies.
"Ankara cannot possibly finance such a huge project on its own," he explained.
The debt-stricken Turkish economy is suffering from recession, high inflation and unemployment.
The area that came under Turkish control following the recent military incursion stretches 120 km along the 444-km-long Turkish-Syrian border on the eastern part of the Euphrates River.
The safe zone under Turkish control is situated between the Syrian cities of Tal Abyad and Ras al-Ayn with a depth of 30-32 km.
"The UN is unlikely to come to Turkey's aid, having expressed reservations about Turkey's operation and knowing that the international community is generally opposed to Turkey's declared objectives other than its legitimate need to secure its borders against terrorism," stated Logoglu.
Ankara sees the U.S.-backed Kurdish militia in Syria, known as the People's Protection Units, as a terror group and has repeatedly said it would not tolerate a "terror corridor" along its border.
"In addition, the project would necessitate Turkey to stay in the area for a long time, something that would not be welcomed by Syria or anybody else," said Logoglu.
The Syrian government, with which Ankara refuses to have political dialogue, describes the Turkish military presence on its soil as occupation and violation of international law.
Ankara and Damascus are at daggers drawn as Turkey has militarily supported rebels trying to topple the Syrian government during the war.
Without Syria's acceptance of the project and consent of the Syrians to be resettled in the safe zone, the net result of the project "would be a chronic source of tension," Logoglu warned.
Amid deepening economic problems, the Turkish people have been increasingly disturbed by the massive presence of Syrians in their country, according to media reports during the past year.
Even among the ranks within the ruling Justice and Development Party, some now oppose Syrians establishing themselves permanently in Turkey, said Sen, head of the Istanbul-based Turkish European Foundation for Education and Scientific Studies.
"The idea of settling millions of people in a safe zone, the creation of which has generated so much controversy already, is ultimately a nonstarter," remarked Logoglu.
Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu discussed Syria with his German counterpart Heiko Maas in Ankara on Saturday.
Underlining that care needs to be taken for a safe and voluntary resettlement of the Syrians, Cavusoglu said at the press conference following the meeting that Ankara is cooperating with the international community, first and foremost with Berlin, to find ways to meet the basic needs of the Syrians to be resettled.
Ankara and Brussels concluded in March 2016 a deal on blocking the flow of migrants to the EU via Turkey. In return, the EU agreed, among others, to provide a total of 6 billion euros for the Syrians in Turkey.
Erdogan suggested on Saturday that Ankara would mull realizing the resettlement project on its own even if the international community offers no funds.
He threatened once again to open the gates for refugees and illegal immigrants to "walk to Europe" if the EU provides no support for the project.
However, none of the analysts believe Ankara's threat would work.
"The Europeans do not believe Turkey would open the gates, because threatening has lost its credibility as Ankara failed to act following similar threats in the past," stated Sen.
"Ankara's threat is not realistic," echoed Bilhan. "In case Turkey would let the Syrians go to Europe by opening the gates, a strong political tension would ensue which would poison the ties between Ankara and Brussels."
Ankara fears it will face yet another huge wave of migrants from Syria's rebel-held Idlib in case the Russia-backed Syrian army moves to remove the rebels there.
"The wiser alternative is to keep negotiating with the EU and to encourage them to develop a humane EU-wide refugee policy," said Logoglu.
