Afrin IDPs concerned about the Turkish military threats
Northern Aleppo – North-Press Agency
Dejla Khalil
People of the region of Afrin, who were displaced from their homes and towns to the northern countryside of Aleppo, due to the Turkish military invasion in their region, in north-western Syria last year, have expressed their deep concerns regarding the Turkish continued military threats of another invasion, this time threatening their presence in northern Aleppo.
Civilian Jaafar Suleiman told North-Press about the dangers of the Turkish military invasion in northeastern Syria, he said: "The Turkish threats are targeting our presence again, they are seeking to establish an Ottoman state by invading northern Syria".
He added: "If they invoke the return of the town of Tal Rifaat to its people, let us return to our city of Afrin, which Turkey replaced its people with other people who are strangers".
Hassan Qara Ali, another citizen said that the Russian and Turkish consensus, and the exchange of trade interests between them “are the reason for the invasion in Syrian territories, adding that the Turkish regime wants to build an Ottoman state in Rojava (northeastern Syria region) to the Iraqi city of Mosul.”
He stressed that their basic demand is the return to their city, whose case has become forgotten according to the Russian-Turkish interests, as he described.
Citizen Janvian Mohammed asked about the status of Afrin and the fate of its people in the international agreements, she said: "We see no mention of Turkey's occupation of Afrin in the terms of all agreements on Syria".
She added that the stance of the Syrian government regarding the Turkish invasion of Afrin and northern Syria “is weak and does not rise to the extent of stopping the invasion, Turkey entered Afrin and occupied the city, and it also entered northern Syria where the Turkish regime continues to violate the agreements and try to expand its control.”
Azad Entabi said: "We were forced to get out after the brutal attack on us in Afrin, we resorted to these areas hoping to return to our city, and now Turkey is threatening to attack Tal Rifaat, where will we go?”
"The safe zone is a Turkish pretext to bring demographic change for the original people of the region as it was the case in Afrin," he said, appealing to the United Nations and international countries: "Can't anyone stop the Turkish regime? Which is committing major violations, and killing us every day? We want a solution to these problems.”
Zarifa Mohammed said: "There is no one to support us, Russia deceived us in Afrin and we were forced to get out of our homes, but we will not give up our land, we have the right to return.”
It is worth mentioning that more than 300 thousand people were displaced from the region of Afrin on March 18, 2018, as a result of the Turkish military invasion with its affiliated Syrian armed opposition groups, where most of those displaced people live now in camps in the northern countryside of Aleppo.