Culture, heritage festival in Syria’s Ain Issa concludes
AIN ISSA, Syria (North Press) – The two-day Tel Abyad Festival for Culture and Heritage was concluded on Thursday in the town of Ain Issa, north of Raqqa Governorate in northern Syria, by honoring the participating teams.
The supervisor of the heritage festival, Saleh Haji, told North Press, “The festival aims to link the culture of the population in the region, including Bedouins, Arabs, Kurds, Circassians and Armenians.”
“Turkey sought to erase the culture of the region after taking control of the city of Tel Abyad, displacing its residents, and throwing them into camps,” Saleh added.
The festival, organized by the Culture Board of the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES) in the town of Ain Issa, continued for two days.
It included musical bands, poetry evenings, and folkloric dances.
“The festival aims to adhere to each community’s culture and respect other cultures,” Saleh said.
At the conclusion of the festival, the AANES Culture and Art Board honored all the participants.
The AANES was first formed in 2014 in the Kurdish-majority regions of Afrin, Kobani and Jazira in northern Syria following the withdrawal of Syrian government forces. Later, it was expanded to Manbij, Tabqa, Raqqa, Hasakah and Deir ez-Zor after the SDF defeated ISIS militarily there.
Tel Abyad and its countryside has been under the control of Turkish forces since 2019 following the so-called military operation “Peace Spring”.
The operation resulted in the two cities of Tel Abyad and Sere Kaniye (Ras al-Ain), northern Syria, to be occupied by Turkey.