ALEPPO NOTHEN COUNTRYSIDE, Syria (North Press) – As the fourth anniversary to mark the Turkish forces and Turkish-backed Syrian armed opposition factions assaults against Afrin area approaches, the issue of Afrin and the safe return of the displaced to their homes is out of the agenda of the Syrian government and Syrian-related countries.
The Syrian government disregards the issue of Afrin occupied by Turkey and does not consider it as a Syrian issue nor it priorities it. All this happen amid lack of any new proposals for a political solution in Syria and the non-intervention of the international community to act to put an end to the violations taking place on a daily basis.
Instead, the government has worsened the situation even more. It imposes a siege on the areas where displaced people from Afrin are living. Consequently, the displaced people’s suffering increases. All what have left for them now is merely a nylon tent.
On January 20, 2018, the Turkish forces and Turkish-backed Syrian armed opposition factions started a ground and aerial offensive on Afrin under the pretext of expelling terrorist groups and protecting the civilians.
The ground and aerial offensive, which continued for 58 days non-stop, killed 498 civilians and wounded up to 696 people, including 303 children and 213 women, human rights groups and organizations in north and east Syria said.
Moreover, up to 300 civilians fled the Turkish invasion, according to the statistics of the Autonomous Administration of Afrin Region which is currently operating in Aleppo northern countryside.
Some of the displaced people sheltered in five camps namely al-Awda, Afrin, Barkhodan, Sardam and Shahba, others distributed on 42 villages and towns in Aleppo northern countryside while some families moved to Syrian towns and cities, most notably to areas run by the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES).
To mark this anniversary, Afrin displaced people break their silence and recall the tragedy and woes they went through. They look at their beautiful images they took before the invasion but then they remember the atrocities the Turkish forces and their backed Syrian forces have committed against those who refused to leave their home, olive trees and memories.
Syrian government siege and Turkish shelling
Sheikho Ibrahim, the general coordinator of the camps said the Syrian government does not handle the issue of Afrin IDPs as Syrian nationals who left their homes and towns.
“On the contrary, if any disagreement rises between the Syrian government and the AANES, the government uses the card of Afrin IDPs to practice pressure on the AANES and tightens the siege,” Ibrahim said.
Since Afrin people displaced to Aleppo northern countryside, the Syrian government imposes, from time to time, a siege on them. The Syrian government denies the transfer of fuel, gas, medicine, flour and the consumable goods to get to them.
The IDPs spend most of winter days without heaters. The Syrian government checkpoints near Manbij do not allow fuel to be transferred from Jazira Region in northeast Syria to Aleppo northern countryside.
Around 1,850 families, with 7,800 individuals, have sheltered in the five camps, according to Sheikho Ibrahim.
The IDPs endure dire living conditions because of lack of job opportunities and inflation. The IDPs suffer shortage of foodstuff, medicine, fuel and household gas due to the Syrian government siege.
The siege imposed by the Syrian government usually coincides the bombardment by the Turkish forces and Turkish-backed Syrian opposition factions.
Activists and politicians say the continuous Turkish shelling on areas, where Afrin IDPs have sheltered to, aims to push them to immigrate so that they do not demand returning to their homeland and Afrin’s fate will be similar to that of Sanjak of Alexandretta.
Based on the statistics North Press obtained from Afrin Hospital, 141 civilians, including children, have lost their lives or wounded due to the explosion of landmines and Turkish shelling on Aleppo northern countryside.
No return under the Turkish presence
Four years have passed since Turkey invaded Afrin, still the majority of the IDPs refuse to return home fearing on their own fate. The Turkish-backed Syrian armed opposition factions in Afrin continuously commit violations against the indigenous people who did not leave and also against the people who return home. The Kurdish National Council in Syria (ENKS) and the local councils run by the factions have repeatedly called the people of Afrin to return.
However, Ibrahim Sheikho said the majority of the people who returned to Afrin were kidnapped, arrested, beaten, tortured and then were released on exchange for high sums of money.
In addition, some of the returnees live with their relatives or neighbors in the same houses given the factions seized their houses and reject leaving.
There have been no international guarantees so far to guarantee a safe return of the people of Afrin, Sheikho added.
The Turkish forces hold meetings, from time to time, with leaders of the opposition factions and order them to pressure the people who stayed in Afrin in order to push them leave and immigrate to complete the demographic change project, Sheikho noted.
In turn, Bakr Alo, head of the Executive Council of Afrin Region, which is currently operating in various areas where the displaced live, said the Autonomous Administration insists to have dialogue with the Syrian government and this gives us hope and strength that Afrin will be liberated and the Autonomous Administration will be back in Afrin wether on the political or military field.
“The fate of Afrin is connected to the fate of Syria where military operations diminished last year among the warrying parties. This might be a sign of solution,” Alo said.