​​​​​​​“Age Resistance” continues in confronting the occupation and genocide - 2

After the start of the July 19 Revolution, the city of Afrin witnessed developments at all levels, especially economic, social, organizational and personal, and it was a safe haven for tens of thousands of IDPs from most of the Syrian regions as a result of the conflicts that were taking place between the Damascus Government and armed factions and mercenaries.

Genocide attacks

On January 20, 2018, the Turkish occupation state launched violent attacks on the city of Afrin, using 72 warplanes, targeting more than 185 service, civilian, medical and military sites, accompanied by artillery and missile attacks, followed by ground attacks accompanied by mercenaries of the national army that was formed by the Turkish occupation state in 2017, their political cover is the so-called Syrian National Coalition, including the Kurdish National Council. Amid international and regional silence and Russian complicity, following the conclusion of a barter agreement with Turkey.

After the Turkish occupation state launched its attack on Afrin canton, Russia and Turkey concluded an agreement in the corridors of the Astana meetings, which included the withdrawal of mercenaries of the Turkish occupation state from Ghouta. In the exchange, Russia opened the air for Turkey to launch attacks on Afrin, which had a population of nearly 350 thousand people. It has an area of ​​3,850 km².

In less than 20 days, the Turkish occupation army committed 5 massacres against the people of Afrin, the first was on January 20, after the Turkish occupation army targeted a mountain of asphalt south of the city of Afrin, as a result of which a child and about 20 workers were martyred, and the second was in the village of Jalabra in the Sherawa district in Afrin canton on January 21, 10 civilians were killed, in addition to 12 others were wounded. And the third, on January 26, in the center of Mobata district in Afrin canton, killing 6 civilians, and the fourth, on January 28, against civilians in the village of Kobla, Sherawa district, Afrin canton, which killed 8 martyrs, 7 wounded and 10 missing, and the fifth, on February 9, in Shakta village in Shia district. In Janders area, 7 people were killed.

The Turkish attacks intensified as a result of the shameful international silence. Since the start of the Turkish aggression on Afrin on January 20 and on February 17, 173 civilians have been martyred, including 26 children, 21 women. In addition, 464 others were injured, including 50 children and 71 women. On February 26, the Turkish killing machine committed a massacre against the people of Yalangoz village in Janders district, as a result of which 6 civilians were martyred, followed by another massacre committed by the Turkish occupation warplanes against 13 civilians in the center of Janders city. The Turkish occupation army also targeted Avrin Hospital on March 16, 2018, killing more than 16 civilians, including wounded children, who were receiving treatment.

Hundreds of thousands of Afrin people were displaced as a result of the violent Turkish attacks with the aim of annihilating the people of Afrin, and they headed towards the al-Shahba areas.

Forced displacement and settlement after the occupation

After the Turkish occupation state occupied the city of Afrin, on March 18, 2018, the residents of Afrin were forcibly displaced from their homeland as a result of the crimes of the Turkish occupation army and its mercenaries. Neither the children, nor women, nor even a stone were safe from their crimes. Turkey followed a policy of displacement against the few who remained in their homes, so unjust laws were imposed against the people of Afrin, such as wearing the Niqab (Islamic dress according to the concept of ISIS) on women, and preventing them from leaving without a “Muharram”, not to mention the kidnapping and torture of civilians, the rape of women, and the seizure of civilians’ property, looting and stealing archaeological sites, and destroying the shrines of martyrs. In addition to settling mercenary families to change the demography of Afrin and obliterate its identity. This was followed by changing the the names of institutions, villages and towns to Turkish and Arabic, and raising Turkish flags over buildings. The seizure of orchards and the olive crop and its export to world markets in Spain and America, and the cutting of olive trees.

According to what the Human Rights Organization Afrin - Syria documented, more than 8,063 civilians were kidnapped during four years of occupation, the fate of more than a third of them is still unknown, and hundreds of them were released in exchange for a huge ransom.

More than 655 civilians lost their lives, including 498 civilians who were killed as a result of the Turkish bombing, 90 lost their lives under torture, and more than 696 were wounded as a result of the Turkish bombing, including 303 children, 213 women.

More than 333,900 olive trees and various forest trees have been cut down, and more than a third of the area designated for cultivation, estimated at more than 11 thousand hectares, has been burned since the occupation of Afrin.

Some examples of settlement of mercenary families

In Shara district, the occupation army settled 84 families of mercenaries in Maarska village, 2,200 mercenaries in Maryamin village, 69 mercenaries in Trinada village of Afrin center, and resettled about 100 mercenaries in Maarat village, 60 mercenaries in Mulla Khalil village in Janders district. In Sherawa district, about 1,250 mercenaries were settled in the village of al-Ghazawiya, in addition to 500 mercenaries near the village of Iska, in addition to about 560 mercenaries who were settled in an area between the villages of Al-Ghazawiya and Burj Abdalo.

With funding and support from European and Gulf organizations, and the supervision of the Turkish Disaster and Emergency Management Organization (AFAD), Turkey worked to build settlement complexes in most of the towns and districts of the occupied canton of Afrin, and established more than 30 camps and 30 settlements in the Afrin region.

According to the latest statistics, the Turkish occupation army has settled nearly 400,000 settlers throughout the villages and districts of Afrin, 500 families, including 48 Palestinian Arabs.

Afrin identity change

After occupying Afrin canton, the Turkish occupation sought to exodus its indigenous residents by committing heinous crimes via systematic policy, seeking in the exchange the landmarks of occupied Afrin canton to turn it of Turkish province.

The names of places were also changed to Ottoman names, and the Turkish flag and Erdogan’s pictures were placed everywhere and on sign boards on villages, districts and centers, and the imposition of the Turkish language in schools and placing the Turkish flag on students’ clothes.

In a move contrary to all humanitarian and international values ​​and principles, the Turkish occupation state, through its mercenaries, destroyed the holy places and swept away the shrines of the martyrs, who are the greatest moral value for peoples, and religious shrines.

Remove historical monuments

Not to mention the schools, civil and public facilities, and vital and service places. The historical monuments and archaeological sites were not spared the barbarism of the Turkish occupation state, which destroyed 5 archaeological places that express the history of the region. The blocks of Ain Dara, which is classified as one of the most important archaeological sites in Syria by UNESCO, dates back to the era of building its temple. The Hittite (Nešili) site (meaning in the year 1200 BC), and the site of the Prophet Hori, which dates back to the construction of the oldest archaeological point in the Hurrian period 3500 BC, and was classified by UNESCO as one of the most important archaeological monuments in Syria and the Middle East.

According to the Directorate of Antiquities in Afrin, more than 59 archaeological sites, hills and warehouses, and more than 28 religious shrines of various sects and religions, were vandalized and destroyed, in addition to the bulldozing of many tombs and turning one of them into livestock markets.

Genocide Policy

Deputy co-chairmanship of the Executive Council of the Autonomous Administration of North Syria, Bedran Çiya Kurd, explained that Afrin has been subjected to extermination since the beginning of the attacks until now, and he said, "Four years have passed since the attacks, four years have passed since the genocide of Afrin identity, four years of displacement, and four years of violations and crimes against the people of Afrin. Afrin is being directly exterminated in front of the eyes of the whole world."

He went on to say that the policy pursued by the Turkish occupation state against Afrin is a policy of genocide, and said: "The policy practiced by the Turkish occupation state is a policy of extermination and obliteration of Afrin identity, and everyone sees how they forcibly displaced the indigenous people of Afrin, and settled strangers in the region. It is necessary to see The humanitarian organizations concerned with these crimes are closely monitoring what is happening in Afrin, and prosecute the perpetrators of these crimes, especially the Turkish officials.

The city of Afrin, which was a source of peace and a destination for thousands of Syrian refugees, has now turned into a center for training mercenaries. Bedran Çiya Kurd explains in this regard: "The Turkish occupation seeks to eliminate the Kurdish identity, and seeks to pass the region into the obliteration the cultural change, demographic change and psychological warfare, and everyone saw How did Erdogan reveal his plans at the United Nations meeting, where he revealed his efforts to settle the Syrian refugees who went to Turkey there, and in this case he wants to implement a process of demographic change in the region.

Bedran Çiya Kurd noted that everyone knows that the Syrians in Turkey are mostly affiliated with the Sunni opposition, and seek to form a Sunni belt on the border, and a base through which to expand its occupation projects, and said: "Turkey is now working to turn Afrin into a center for extremist groups who work under cover." Political Islam, to implement its projects inside Syria and even outside Syria as well.

Bedran Çiya Kurd indicated that Turkey is working to annex Afrin to Turkey, and said: "Afrin and the rest of the occupied areas are administered, as if they are areas belonging to Turkey, in terms of political, economic, military and even cultural terms. This is a special scheme that is being followed against Afrin, and this is part of the Misak-ı Millî that Turkey seeks to implement.

It's time to end the Turkish occupation

Bedran Çiya Kurd responded last year to the resistance shown by the Afrin IDPs in the regions of north and east Syria and said: "Last year we noticed the resistance shown by the people to liberate the city of Afrin, and it reached a high level on all political, economic and social levels, so today we see that the resistance that was shown It revealed the true face of Turkish fascism."

Bedran Çiya Kurd explained: "We know that Turkey is experiencing an internal crisis from the political and economic point of view, which is the result of the resistance of our people from inside and outside the country. The level of resistance is more against Turkish fascism, from a political and legal point of view, and by raising the pace of the resistance, we are bringing an end to the Turkish occupation.”

He stressed the need to unite efforts from both inside and outside to eliminate the occupation, and said: "We appeal to everyone inside and outside the country to raise the pace of resistance, because it is time to end the Turkish occupation that occupied Afrin."

World public opinion is in solidarity with the people

At the end of his speech, Bedran Çiya Kurd indicated that world public opinion supports the people in Afrin and supports their cause, and support for international public opinion gives tremendous power, and hinders and destroys Turkish plans, and said: "We are confident that the new year will be a year for achieving important achievements, thwarting Turkish plans and achieving great achievements in Rojava, so we must strengthen our organization more so that we can liberate the city of Afrin and preserve the victories achieved by the Rojava Revolution."

T/S

ANHA