Though these areas nominally acknowledge a government affiliated with the Syrian opposition, in practice they constitute a separate proto-state[9] under the dual authority of decentralized native local councils and Turkish military administration.

Turkish-controlled areas of Syria includes towns such as al-Bab, Azaz, Manbij, Jarabulus, Rajo, Tal Abyad and Ras al-Ayn.

[20] In February 2016, Chancellor of Germany Angela Merkel said, "In the current situation it would be helpful if there could be such an area where none of the parties are allowed to launch aerial attacks – that is to say, a kind of no-fly zone".

[21] The creation of the safe zone failed in early 2016 due to disagreements between the United States and Turkish governments, primarily on which actor is to be eliminated first.

[25] On 30 March 2018, Turkey's president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan stated that Turkey had started preparations to clear northern Syria's "Ayn al-Arab" (Kobane), Ras al-Ain, Tell Abyad and Al-Hasakah regions from militants (referring to the mainly Kurdish YPG forces) up to the Iraqi border, adding that it would also clear militants from Iraq (this time referring to the Kurdish terrorist organisation, PKK).

[34][35] The new operation is set to resume efforts to create 30-kilometer (18.6-mile) wide "safe zones" along Turkey's border with Syria, President Erdoğan said in a statement.

[39] Areas captured during the operation included villages between Azaz and al-Rai, such as Kafr Kalbin; Kafrah; Sawran; Ihtaimlat; Dabiq; Turkman Bareh; Kafr Elward; Ghoz; Ghaytun; Akhtarin; Baruza; Tall Tanah; Kaljibrin; Qebbet al-Turkmen; Ghandoura; Arab Hassan Sabghir; Mahsenli; Qabasin and Halwanji.

Following Operation Olive Branch, Syrian National Army extended the region with the capture of the entire Afrin District.

[40] In addition to its administrative centre Afrin, the district includes settlements such as Bulbul, Maabatli, Rajo, Jindires, Sharran and Shaykh al-Hadid.

[48][49] Northern Syria, including the Turkish-controlled region, has historically been ethnically highly diverse, inhabited predominately by Arabs, Kurds, Turkmens, Yazidis, and Circassians.

[56] However, all these areas were strongly affected by refugee shifts and population movement due to the civil war, making accurate demographic estimates difficult.

[52][57] The population of the Turkish-dominated territories is generally Muslim, with the Euphrates Shield zone as well as Tell Abyad being deeply conservative in regards to religion.

[61] Refugees from Eastern Ghouta, Damascus, said that they were part of "an organised demographic change" which was said to replace the Kurdish population of Afrin with an Arab majority.

For example, in September 2019, civilians in the Shaykh al-Hadid subdistrict (of the Afrin region) described how members of Division 14, Brigade 142 (the Suleiman Shah Brigade) of the Syrian National Army had gone from door to door instructing Kurdish families with fewer than three members to vacate their houses to accommodate individuals arriving from outside of Afrin."

It was reported that Yazidi and other Kurdish women and girls have been kidnapped by the SNA since the occupation of Afrin began in early 2018, either for ransom, rape, forced marriage, or because of perceived links to the Democratic Union Party.

[4] In general, Turkey exerts a direct influence on the region's government,[74] and Turkish civilian officials such as governors have been appointed to oversee the area.

[75] Since the establishment of the occupation zone, the Turkish authorities have striven to restore civil society in the areas under their control[76] and to also bind the region more closely to Turkey.

[6][2][77] As part of these efforts, towns and villages have been demilitarized by dismantling military checkpoints and moving the local militias to barracks and camps outside areas populated by civilians.

[79] For Turkish officials, restoring order and improving the situation in northern Syria was a "justice of fraternity" stemming from Ottoman times, as one deputy governor explained.

[72] A temporary council was organised by the Turkish-backed Syrian Kurds Independent Association in March 2018, to oversee aid, education and media in the area.

[87] Turkish-backed administrators have refused to register people with Kurdish names, and insist that Christian and other minority women wear an Islamic veil before being issued documents.

[88] An August 2020 US Department of Defense report criticised Turkey and the SNA for "arbitrary detentions, extra-judicial killings, seizure and resettlement of new populations in private properties" and "the repeated and deliberate shutting off of water access to half a million civilians".

[91] The general aim of the group is to assist Turkey in creating a "safe zone" in Syria and to establish a National Army, which will operate in the land gained as a result of Turkish military intervention[92] and answer to the Syrian Interim Government.

[76] By August 2018, the SNA was stated to be an "organized military bloc" that had largely overcome the chronic factionalism which had traditionally affected the Syrian rebels.

To achieve the formation of a new national army without risking a mutiny, Turkey has applied soft pressure on the different groups while punishing only the most independent-minded and disloyal among them.

It removed the tight control over visitors and passers that had previously existed under the PYD-led administration, and the new local councils and the Free Police attempted to provide stability and incentives for tourists to return.

[6][1][77] The Syrian government under Bashar al-Assad has criticized Turkish presence in Northern Syria on multiple occasions and called for their withdrawal.