Forum brought out several demands; getting occupation out of Afrin

QAMIŞLO

On the occasion of the first anniversary of supporting Afrin's resistance, the works of the dialogue forum organized by the Syrian Women's Council at Zana Hall in Qamişlo canton launched on Wednesday morning in order to shed light on the violations committed by the Turkish occupation army and its mercenaries in Afrin city.

150 female representatives in the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria and various political organizations and parties in north and east Syria participated in the forum. In the forum's hall, banners were hung with "The way of Afrin's liberation is the path of martyrs and resistance. With the steadfastness of women in Afrin, the resistance continues," written on.

The forum included three axes: the repercussions of the occupation of Afrin on the Syrian crisis, the suffering of women in Afrin after the Turkish occupation, and Turkey's violations of the international conventions and Human Rights' charter.

At the beginning, the general coordinator of the Syrian Women's Council Lina Barakat gave an opening speech in which she congratulated the forum on all the participants, especially the women who still resist inside Afrin and in the camps of al-Shahba canton. She said, "Afrin's resistance that lasted for 58 days registered heroic epics that have not been witnessed over history." She also saluted the struggler Leyla Guven and all political detainees in the Turkish prisons.

In the conference, a divan consisted of three members was formed to start discussing the three axes.

The first axis: The repercussions of the occupation of Afrin on the Syrian crisis

The first axis was delivered by Dr. and member of the Syrian Women's Council Abeer Hessaf, which included the repercussions of Afrin's occupation on the Syrian crisis.

The first axis included speeches about Afrin city during the Syrian crisis, during which it was confirmed that Afrin dropped the masks of the regional and great powers.

Abeer Hessaf added, "Since the beginning, Turkey has been a key regional player alongside Iran, and it has its goals and its eternal dream. Turkey has never forgotten the dreams of the Ottoman state, and it does not hesitate to do anything to achieve this dream in Syria since the first moment of the outbreak of the Syrian revolution".

After that, the first axis witnessed discussions on several levels, including the social level as the participants stressed that Afrin is one of the Syrian regions and received many displaced persons from various areas of Syria, pointing out that after the Turkish attack on Afrin, Afrin became one of the areas that witnesses violence, clashes, looting and destruction by the mercenary factions, and that created a rift in the Syrian fabric which was cohesive and dominated by affection and brotherhood.

While the participants made clear that the families of al-Ghouta who entered Afrin city caused a clear demographic change for the city to be stripped of its Kurdish identity almost completely.

The participants pointed out that the Turkish occupation, during the bombardment of Afrin, targeted the archaeological sites in a clear attempt to erase its history, in addition to the destructive operations that targeted the orchards and the uprooting of perennial olive trees, as the number of the uprooted olive trees reached about 12 thousand trees.

The participants added that from the economic side, Afrin which used to depend on cultivating olive was exposed to robbery by Turkey and its mercenaries, where its oil was exported abroad.

The second axis: Women's suffering in Afrin after the occupation

The second axis was delivered by the member of Kongra Star's Coordination Zakiyya Bakro and the co-chair of the Democratic Autonomous Administration's Internal Body in Afrin Hevi Mostafa.

The second axis of the forum included the role of women in Rojava Revolution and their participation in all the fronts in the face of the enemy. It was emphasized that through their effective role, women were able to change the society's view towards them.

While the participants in the second axis of the forum confirmed that women have been able since the beginning of the revolution to be avant-garde in the declaration of the Women Protection Units (YPJ), and the martyrdom of the first member of YPJ fighters in addition to the opening of the first school to teach the mother tongue.

The speeches drew attention to the participation of women in various fields of the Democratic Autonomous Administration, and their struggle for women's freedom.

The participants stressed that after the occupation of Afrin, women were subjected to all forms of violence, kidnapping, rape and murder. Through these acts, they want to return women to the era of slavery and undermine their will, denouncing the international silence.

The third and final axis: Turkey's violations of international conventions and Human Rights' charter

The general coordination of the Syrian Women's Council Lina Barakat delivered a speech and said, "The Turkish occupation and its collaborators of the mercenary factions committed various violations of the international law and international humanitarian law. It was necessary to expose the various documented violations committed by the Turkish occupation and its mercenaries."

The forum's demands

Before the conclusion of the forum, the participants sent a message to the international community asking it to move and work seriously and speedily to put an end to the aggression on Afrin city as that represents a violation of the Syrian sovereignty and undermine the efforts of the existed political solutions and counter-terrorism efforts in Syria.

The participants demanded a binding international resolution that considers the occupation of Afrin as unlawful action that contradicts the principles of the United Nations and the international law, demanding the occupying forces to withdraw immediately and unconditionally from Afrin and all the Syrian territories that they had occupied.

D.H

ANHA