Kobani – North-Press Agency
Fattah Issa / Fayad Muhammad
A radiologist from the town of Tal Abyad (Gre-Spi), northern Raqqa, tells the story of taking over his house and the complete displacement of all the components of his hometown.
The doctor, Muhammad Arif Ali, told North-Press that military groups under the name of "the Syrian National Army" affiliated with Turkey, took control over his house and the houses of his relatives in the village of Tanouza, some 7 km to the west of Tal Abyad.
Militants’ prayers in his plundered house
Dr. Ali pointed out that those armed groups demolished two statues of two lions at the entrance of his house, in addition to laying down the carpet taken from his house in the yard, to perform their collective prayers on Friday, in a land and house that had been seized by those militants.
No return allowed
Dr. Ali stressed that Turkish-backed armed groups carried out these activities in his yard to convey a veiled message that they will not allow the local people of the village and the area to return into their houses and properties, in an affirmation of the demographic change process that is being carried out by the Turkish military and its affiliated armed groups in northern Syria.
He added, speaking about the existence of "living evidence" of his previous talk, which is the arrest of a 72-year-old man from his village on his way back to his house in the village of Tanouza, after receiving guarantees from those armed groups controlling the village. As those armed groups in his village demanded a ransom money of 30 million Syrian pounds from the son of the arrested old man in exchange for his release.
Turkish bombing targeted only the Kurdish villages
Dr. Ali continued his talk, pointing out that the movement of displacement occurred with the entry of the pro-Turkish armed groups along with the Turkish army to the region on the 9th of last October, towards Kobani and Raqqa. “The armed opposition groups and the Turkish forces bombed the Kurdish villages, while many villages of the Arab component were neutralized from the Turkish bombing until the armed groups began invading the area and arresting the local people," he added.
Regarding the latest news about his house, Doctor Ali explained that these armed groups are still present in his house, and they are setting up fortifications near the village, while their families were settled in the locals' houses, as part of the village was transformed into a military base, while the other part became the settlement place of the families of those militants.
Property plunder and population displacement
He also added that his neighbors of the Arab component have told him over the phone that all the houses owned by the residents were emptied of its contents, their properties were completely looted, and the houses became empty, as well as the peasants' seeds of wheat and barley have been stolen and their warehouses were looted, and all the tractors and machineries they left behind.
He explained that most of the border villages which have been occupied and their residents have been expelled, who belong to the Kurdish component, of which about 100 villages, including the ones owned by the Armenians, and several others owned by the Arabs.
The second displacement
Dr. Ali added that this displacement is considered the second for them from Tal Abyad, after they were displaced from the village at the end of 2012, due to the control of the armed opposition groups. He also noted that during the control of ISIS over the area, his house and village were uninhabited, then at the end of 2014 during ISIS military campaign on Kobani, ISIS families were brought in from outside of Tal Abyad to be housed in the village.
Muhammad Arif Ali, The displaced radiologist keeps his eyes open towards his hometown, while he moves between a displacement and another, perhaps one day he can warm his bones by the rising sun on his village and its indigenous inhabitants, not those who were brought in by Turkey for the purpose of the demographic change.