Afrin IDPs: We not to return to Afrin unless it is liberated

Not a day goes without kidnappings and killings of Kurds remaining in Afrin which is empty of its inhabitants and under the yoke of the Turkish occupation and its mercenaries.

This city was emptied and stripped of its original inhabitants after ethnic cleansing operations against its original inhabitants. It is now inhabited by strangers who came from inside and outside Syria. A city that was once mostly populated by Kurds and used to embrace all Syrians, today it includes only 23% of the population, after it used to contain 95% of it.

Kurds in Afrin are kidnapped and subjected to humiliation, insults, severe beatings, and merciless torture in prisons. All kinds of crimes have been committed by Turkey which seeks to compel those who remained to leave the city in order to turkificate and arabize it.

The forced displacement of the indigenous population began since the Turkish occupation army launched its attack on January 20, 2018, which resulted in the displacement of more than 300,000 Afrinian citizens, and they settled in a place not far from their homes. Afrin people insisted to resist there until their city's liberation from the Turkish state and its mercenaries.

The Kurdish National Council calls on the displaced people of Afrin living in al-Shahba to return, and they do not even have an office there in Afrin, so how would the displaced return to Afrin, this question we asked a number of Afrinian families displaced from their homes that we interviewed.

The rest want to get out of Afrin

The displaced Fatima Waqas (65 years old) says the mercenaries took over our homes and property in Afrin, nothing remained, and she made clear that "there are relatives of us in Afrin who tell us that if we were able to go out, we would have left, there is no point in living in Afrin while it is occupied."

Fatima considered the calls of the Kurdish National Council (ENKS) for the displaced to return to Afrin as "a conspiracy they are plotting against us," and added, "We do not believe in these statements. They are our enemies. If there are no international guarantees, we will not return."

She explained, "In order for us to return and live in security and stability in our homes, Afrin must be free of mercenaries. This is our demand for return." She continued, "We do not want to return without the People's Protection Units since we are the owners of the revolution and the martyrs. Returning without them will pose a danger to us."

We will return to Afrin in case it is liberated

Restam Hannan (46 years old) also shows that the kidnappings, torture, ransom demand, and the seizure of money, lands and property of Afrin people are still ongoing.

Hannan said, "The enemy is an enemy, even if there are guarantees by the Turkish occupation army for return, we will not return. We cannot trust the Turkish occupier." He added, "Afrin does not belong to them, they are an occupying force. If they give us guarantees, they will resume committing grave violations against us because they are enemies."

Restam Hannan explained that if the Turkish occupation leaves Afrin, then we will return to administer ourselves by ourselves, and stressed, "We will not return to Afrin until it is liberated by the People's Protection Units and Women's Protection Units (YPG, YPJ)."

Hannan noted that the news received by our relatives in Afrin says that Afrin has become a semi-Turkish city, as they have settled in it strangers from Ghouta and various Syrian regions.

ANHA