Turkey to launch agricultural project for Syrian refugees

Turkey has planned to launch a huge project for Syrian refugees living in the Suruç district in the southern Turkish province of Şanlıurfa.

The officials form the Suruç district coordinator's office said that they planned to open a 700,000-square-meter area, near a newly established camp for 35,000 Syrian refugees in the Suruç district, for the refugees to cultivate land.

The project aims to provide jobs for 7,000 refugee families who will cultivate land that remained uncultivated for about 30 years, due to the irrigation problem. According to the new project, the irrigation of the land will be provided from the waste water treatment plant in the camp.

According to the plan, practical applications will be applied to the region by providing agricultural training to the refugees.  Every refugee family will be given 100 square meters of land on which to raise their own food, as well as to earn money by selling their crops.

The existing laws of Turkey prohibit Syrians to cultivate inside the Turkish territory. The officials working with the new project said a minor change of the existing law can open a door for thousands of Syrian refugees.

The district coordination office said that the project was submitted to the relevant ministry, and the field work would be started immediately after the approval of the project.

Since the Syrian civil war began in 2011, Turkey- estimated to host over 1.6 million Syrians as guests- has maintained an emergency response of a consistently high standard. The Turkish state has so far spent $6 billion for the Syrian refugees.