Resettlement in Syria’s Afrin is crime: AANES official
ALEPPO COUNTRYSIDE, Syria (North Press) – Settling Syrians IDPs of other Syrian cities in Afrin north of Aleppo in the name of the humanitarian aid and relief is “a violation of international and humanitarian covenants and laws,” an official in the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES) said on Wednesday.
“Crimes of demographic change and ethnic cleansing that Turkey has committed and is committing with the help of the Syrian National Army factions amount to war crimes and they must be tried before international courts,” Israfil Mustafa, Vice-President of the Executive Council in Afrin region in the northern countryside of Aleppo, in an exclusive statement, told North Press.
Building settlements by several organizations in Afrin is a “crime and must be curbed, as it is an insult to the Palestinian people,” Mustafa noted.
“The purpose of building dozens of settlements by organizations including Rahma International Society, Relief for Palestine and Palestine 48 is to play the communities of the region against each other and sow discord in the name of humanity and relief,” he stressed.
He called on the Palestinian people not to stay silent and condemn what is happening in Afrin in the name of the Palestinian people, “because Palestinians had already experienced the displacement, their land was occupied, and settlements were established there.”
Mustafa stressed the right of the Syrian IDPs of Ghouta and the other Syrian cities to return to their homes, pointing at the same time to the right of Afrin residents to return to their homes.
“They do not have the right to settle in Afrin, because Afrin has its own people,” he said.
Mustafa appealed to the international organizations, human rights and humanitarian organizations, as well as the UN Security Council to intervene to stop Turkish practices against Afrin and its residents.
He also urged the international community to abide by the laws it set and work for the return of the people of Afrin to their homes.