By Wafaa Ahmad
QAMISHLI, Syria (North Press) – Militants of the Turkish-backed armed opposition factions, aka the Syrian National Army (SNA), continue to seize houses of the original Kurdish inhabitants of Afrin Region, northwest Syria, even though many of them are present there.
Six years after the occupation of Afrin many original inhabitants are forced to either rent houses or stay homeless.
Despite multiple attempts by the owners to reclaim their properties, they find themselves forced to rent houses as SNA militants refuse to give the houses back to their owners.
Recently, SNA factions started selling the houses and property of Afrin residents at low prices to its militants or settlers from other areas.
Afrin region has been under the occupation of Turkey and SNA factions since 2018 following a military operation dubbed “Olive Branch.”
The operation caused the displacement of about 300,000 of the original inhabitants of the Kurds of Afrin who have been taking shelter in more than 50 villages and five camps in the northern countryside of Aleppo, aka Shahba Region. As for those who chose to remain in their homeland and not to flee, they have been subjected to widespread human rights violations.
The remaining locals in the region say that SNA militants confiscated houses of Kurds and put them up for rent. They force the lessees to pay for a year or six months in advance, according to the residents.
A slew of house owners filed complaints to the SNA-affiliated Ombudsman Committee in Afrin, which was established to address the increasing complaints by the locals about the constant violations, seizure of property, and charging of royalties by SNA militants, but has achieved little success.
Spoil of war
Shiyar Muhammad, a pseudonym for a resident from Afrin, told North Press SNA militants seized his house after accusing him of working with the People’s Protection Units (YPG).
Muhammad, a father of three children, said that he was arrested by the SNA factions and imprisoned for over three years, as they framed him and forced him to confess to charges he did not commit.
“After the Turkish invasion of Afrin, the SNA militants started confiscating the houses of Kurdish residents and my house was one of them,” he said.
“While I was in prison, an SNA militant confiscated my house and lived in it along with his family. When I was released, I sought to retrieve my house, but the militant said it was a spoil of war,” he added.
Muhammad and his wife with their three children had to stay in his parents’ small house, which could not accommodate all of them.
He said that after failing to reclaim his house, he was forced to rent one for $50 per month, stressing there are a lot of “similar stories.”
Similar stories
Delkhaz Youssef, another resident from Afrin, told North Press that he struggled for a year and a half before reclaiming his house.
The SNA factions confiscated Youssef’s house after he went to Kurdistan Region of Iraq (KRI) to treat his wife, who suffers from a chronic illness.
“When I was in the KRI, I found out that a leader of Ahrar al-Sharqiya faction [affiliated with the SNA] had confiscated my house along with other houses. He had resided in my house and rented out the other houses. So, I decided to come back to reclaim my house,” he told North Press.
Youssef pointed out the SNA leader accused him of dealing with the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES) and threatened to kill him if he returned again.
At the beginning, Youssef stayed with relatives in Afrin countryside for three months. Then, he filed a complaint to the Ombudsman Committee. The SNA leader, however, did not attend the court hearings and refused to evacuate the house even though the court issued the order to do so.
As a result, and after a year and a half, Youssef was able to take back my house after stealing the furniture.
On Feb. 29, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said in a report Turkey bears responsibility for the serious abuses and potential war crimes carried out by its forces and affiliated SNA factions in areas under its occupation in northern Syria.
The report documented “violations of housing, land, and property rights, including widespread looting and pillaging as well as property seizures and extortion, and the failure of attempted accountability measures to curb abuses or to provide restitution to victims.”
SNA militants sell the houses of Kurdish residents of Afrin at very low prices, especially those under construction, according to locals.
Houses still under construction are sold for about $4000 despite the fact that the real value of each one is not less than $15,000 if they are sold legally.
Moreover, those who buy the houses refuse to evacuate if the original owners do not pay the money they had paid when they first bought the houses, especially since local council in Afrin issue “official” possession documents for the buyers, according to residents in Afrin.