RAQQA, Syria (North Press) – Like other Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) from Idlib, Muhammad al-Hamoud, who now resides in the northern Syrian city of Raqqa which is run by the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES), completely rejects the Turkish presence and practices in their areas in northwestern Syria.
Al-Hamoud believes that Turkey “relies on the loyal and extremist Syrian [opposition armed] factions to maintain its control over areas in northern Syria.”
“The presence of the extremist Turkish-backed factions, which are accused of practicing terrorist acts against the population, hinders the return of Idlib residents to their areas, as they are fed up with the practices of these factions.”
Thousands of the displaced families of Idlib now live in the AANES-run city of Raqqa and its countryside after the factions took control of their region in northwest Syria.
The AANES was first formed in 2014 in the Kurdish-majority regions of Afrin, Kobani and Jazira in northern Syria following the withdrawal of the government forces. Later, it was expanded to Manbij, Tabqa, Raqqa, Hasakah and Deir ez-Zor after the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) defeated ISIS militarily.
In 2019, the IDPs of Idlib established the Green Idlib Council; an administrative entity affiliated with the AANES and manages the affairs of the Idlib IDPs in Raqqa and other places.
Maysoun Muhammad, an IDP from Idlib residing in Raqqa, said that Turkey is an “occupying state” that only cares about “implementing its interests and carries out military operations on this basis.”
Muhammad believed that the presence of these “extremist” factions in Idlib hinders the original inhabitants of the prospect of going back to their areas,” as most of those who fled did it “because of the factions’ practices.”
“It is incumbent upon the international community to pressure Turkey to stop its support for these radical groups and its threats against northern Syria. It also has to thwart the Turkish settlement project,” she added to North Press.
On May 3, the Turkish president disclosed about his plan to settle about one million Syrian refugees in 13 Syrian areas, which are not the areas the refugees are originally from, adjacent to the southern border of Turkey starting from Azaz in the west to Sere Kaniye (Ras al-Ain) in the east.
“We are preparing a new project for the voluntary return of one million Syrian brothers who are in our country as guests,” Erdogan said.
Alya Muhammad, another IDP from Idlib who resides in Raqqa, said that most of the displaced Syrians want to return to their original areas from where they were displaced, “and not to areas whose people were displaced due to the ongoing war in Syria,” in reference to the areas in northern Syria that Turkey wants to settle the Syrian refugees in.
The return of Syrian refugees to their areas should be safe and voluntary, and “not a part of the Turkish demographic change project which Turkey implements to ensure its political interests,” she said.
Similar to the other IDPs from Idlib, Eyad al-Khatib, now resides in Raqqa, rejects the latest Turkish threats of mounting a new incursion in northern Syria.
According to al-Khatib, the Turkish-backed factions “are the ones which allowed and consolidated the Turkish intervention in Syria; they also paved the way for Turkey to commit [human rights] violations against Syrians.”