QAMISHLI, Syria (North Press) – After waiting for over two hours while a Syrian government officer confirmed his identity, Khoshnav wasn’t allowed to continue his trip to Damascus because he is a Kurd.
Khoshnav Sayed (a pseudonym), a Kurdish resident of Qamishli, left the city on Tuesday, at half past six in the morning and arrived at Tabqa checkpoint at five p.m., to be told, after waiting two hours, that he had to return to Qamishli.
According to informed sources, the checkpoint belongs to the Aleppo branch of Military Security, known as Abu Ali checkpoint.
Sayed, a government employee, said during a call with North Press that he was left in the Tabqa desert, as he had to wait for a car to take him back home, and he would try to get Damascus via Qamishli airport.
Sayed’s son, a soldier in the ranks of the government forces, was previously wounded during battles with Turkish-backed armed groups, according to Sayed’s relatives.
Sayed was not the only one who was asked to get off the bus, as another passenger in the same bus was prevented from passing a checkpoint belonging to the Damascus government forces on the road between the cities of Tabqa and Athariya, in central Syria.
Since June 24, Damascus government forces have been preventing Kurdish travelers from crossing the first checkpoint separating their areas of control from those of the Autonomous Administration, according to testimonies of travelers who were prevented from completing their trip.
According to media websites, on Friday, government forces removed 25 passengers from buses belonging to several public transport companies, including the Haval, Rafidain and Izla companies.
The city of Tabqa is considered a dividing line between the areas held by the Damascus government and the Autonomous Administration.
A bus driver working for a public transport company said that the number of his passengers decreased from about 40 to about 15, because Kurdish travelers are afraid of being prevented from crossing.
The driver, who preferred not to be named because he travels to areas held by the Damascus government, told North Press via WhatsApp that a government officer entered his bus on Tuesday and said, “Whoever is Kurdish must stand up, and if anyone tries to lie he will be in big trouble.”
The driver stated that two passengers whom the officer suspected were Kurds were removed from the bus; they returned after the checkpoint agents confirmed their Arab identity.
There were contradicting accounts about the reason for these measures, as one of the sources linked them to instructions from leaders in Damascus without disclosing the reason.
Other sources told North Press that the reason was the change of officer in charge of the checkpoint.
North Press was unable to verify the authenticity of these reports as a result of the lack of response from well-informed parties within the Damascus government.
On Thursday, Perwin Ibrahim, the head of pro-government Youth Party for Justice and Development, said on her Facebook account that, “Every party disembarks passengers from buses because they are Kurds. They are hostile to the state and seek to create sedition, and the leadership [government] must hold them accountable immediately. Such actions can’t go unpunished.”
The checkpoint removed seven passengers from the bus on Friday, five on Saturday, and six on Monday, all of which were Kurds, according to the driver, who spoke with North Press during his trip from Qamishli to Damascus.