ALEPPO, Syria (North Press) – Residents of al-Sukkari neighborhood in the city of Aleppo, northern Syria, criticized a government campaign to raise money for the restoration of a roundabout that was named after an opposition figure in the neighborhood and the change its name, all while the neighborhood still suffers from service problems.
On Wednesday, members of the Ba’ath Party inaugurated a roundabout they called “Martyrs Square” at the end of the vegetable market in the al-Sukkari neighborhood, on the border between al-Sukkari and Tel al-Zarazir neighborhoods.
The participation in the inauguration was limited to religious, political, and military figures of those affiliated with the government forces, in addition to figures of the Ba’ath Party; local residents were busy doing their daily work.
The Ba’ath Party in Aleppo had demanded the local security apparatus remove the so-called Mu’afaq Roundabout, calling for its reconstruction and renaming.
A special source from the Ba’ath Party in Aleppo, who preferred not to be identified for security reasons, said that the party has demanded the security apparatus to follow up the process of removing “Mu’afaq Roundabout,” as its name refers to a “terrorist figure” who was affiliated with a pro-Turkish military faction.
This call came during the celebration of the victory of the Syrian President Bashar Assad in presidential elections at Mu’afaq Roundabout, where the Secretary of the Ba’ath Party Branch and Head of the Military Security Branch in Aleppo participated in the celebration. At the time, they asked locals about the square to find out that it was named after a man who later joined the opposition.
Collecting money for construction
The secretary of the Ba’ath Party asked to change the name of the roundabout and the square, “but this requires bidding and a contract with a contractor, which takes a long time,” according to the source.
The secretary demanded the completion of work as soon as possible “to keep up with the celebrations of Assad’s victory,” the source added.
The head of the Syrian Youth Assembly took charge of the matter, “by asking the residents of the neighborhood and the shops for money to remover the roundabout and change its name.”
Mu’afaq Roundabout was named after Omar Mu’afaq, who had several shops including a photography studio, shops for films and CDs, and mobile shops.
Years before the Syrian war, Mu’afaq constructed the roundabout of the neighborhood opposite from the shops he has; thus, the roundabout was known by the citizens as Mu’afaq Roundabout which drove local leaders and the neighborhood council to register the name of the roundabout as a specific mark to facilitate the search for addresses.
When the war erupted in Aleppo, Omar Mu’afaq and his children joined the Tajammu Fastaqim Kama Umirt (Fastaqim Union) and fought against government forces in the neighborhood. After a deal that provided for the departure of the militants from Aleppo, he left for the northern countryside of Aleppo, according to the source.
Ahmed Omar (a pseudonym), a member of al-Sukkari Neighborhood Council and one of those who paid money to reconstruct the roundabout, said, “the total amount of money has exceeded two million Syrian pounds (SYP).”
The residents believe that it is better for the government to spend money on constructing roads and removing rubble of destroyed buildings than to spend it on the roundabout.
The neighborhood suffers from an almost complete absence of electricity and roads services, in addition to the absence of sanitation workers who remove trash only once a week, according to locals.
Beautifying the Ba’ath Party image
From mid-2012 until the end of 2016, al-Sukkari neighborhood, like most of east Aleppo’s neighborhoods, witnessed massive destruction due to battles between government forces and armed opposition groups.
In 2016, government forces, supported by Russian air cover, attacked the areas under the armed groups’ control in Aleppo and prepared to impose a siege on the city, where tens of thousands of residents of the eastern parts of Aleppo were evacuated in a tripartite Russian-Turkish-Iranian agreement. The agreement also included the evacuation of the wounded from the towns of al-Fu’ah and Kafriya.
Pro-government media sites reported that the inauguration of the roundabout came in a time of “Syria’s achievements and victories over its enemies in light of the victory of Syrian President Bashar Assad” in the presidential elections that took place in May.
The Syrian government flag was almost absent from the opening of the roundabout, and video shows dozens of Ba’ath Party flags flown there.
A resident of al-Sukkar,i who preferred to be unidentified, questioned the reasoning behind “forcing us to pay thousands of SYP to reconstruct the roundabout in the neighborhood while its streets have not been paved for years.”
“The Syrian Youth Assembly forced the residents to bear the costs of beautifying the image of the Ba’ath Party in Aleppo with the sweat of their brow,” he added.
Al-Sukkari resident Muhammad al-Ahmed (a pseudonym) said, “what matters to the government is taking revenge even of names of roads and roundabouts in the neighborhood.”