5 years since the occupation of Afrin

On January 20, 2018, Afrin Canton was subjected to an occupation attack that lasted for 58 days, in which the Turkish occupation state used the most powerful lethal weapons of toxic gases, air raids, and ground attacks; What led to its occupation in March of the same year.

Within the framework of dividing Syria, the Turkish occupation seeks by all means and methods to annex the occupied areas to Turkish lands, repeat the scenario of the Iskenderun and implement the so-called "Milli Pact" and the "New Ottoman".

The Turkish occupation state worked during the 5 years of its occupation of Afrin Canton to change its demography and commit ethnic and cultural genocide against the remaining original inhabitants of the Canton after displacing 350,000 of them.

The beginning was to change the identity of Afrin and its features and dye it with the Turkish identity; By changing the names of streets, squares, public facilities, hospitals, villages and towns, raising the Turkish flag over schools and public facilities, and forcing residents to carry the Turkish identity card.

The Turkish occupation changed the names of the main squares in the city center of Afrin, such as Azadi (Freedom) Square to "Ataturk Square", Newroz Roundabout to "Salah al-Din", the National Roundabout to "March 18 Roundabout", and Kawa al-Haddad Roundabout to the "Olive Branch" roundabout.

Within the framework of changing the names of the villages, the Turkish occupation changed the name of the village of Qastal Miqdad to "Seljuq Obasi", and the village of Kotana to "Zafir Obasi", and Korzeleh to "Jaafar Obasi", accompanied by changing the names of important and Kurdish places to Ottoman names and placing the Turkish flag and pictures of the Turkish president "Erdogan" is everywhere and on signboards in every village, district and city center.

The occupation wrote the name of Afrin Hospital in the Turkish language on its identification board, after it was written in the Kurdish and Arabic languages, not to mention changing the identification signs of shops and streets and writing them in Turkish only.

As a continuation to the process of changing the identity of Afrin, the Turkish occupation forced its residents to issue Turkish identification cards, in addition to forcing them to deal in the Turkish lira.

The people and students were forced to learn in the Turkish language and the Turkish school dress was imposed, not to mention the opening of universities and institutes belonging to the universities of the state of Diluk in Turkey.

The Turkish occupation state has also worked to change roads and public facilities to be more like Turkish cities by opening a crossing in the border village of Al-Hamam in Jandres district, and establishing an international highway from Afrin to the border crossing.

Crimes

The Turkish occupation and its mercenaries committed murders and kidnappings against the indigenous people of the Canton, which in 5 years amounted to (663) murders committed under torture, including (96) women, and the kidnapping of more than (8644) citizens, including women, children and the elderly.

Destruction and looting of archaeological and religious sites

According to what the Directorate of Antiquities in Afrin region confirmed, there are about 78 archaeological hills in the Afrin region, and that the Turkish occupation and its mercenaries have excavated most of the hills in search of antiquities and archaeological finds.

The Turkish occupation and its mercenaries destroyed and stole 59 archaeological sites and hills, in addition to 28 religious shrines of various religions, bulldozing many cemeteries and turning one of them into a livestock market.

In addition, the Turkish occupation dismantled the railway extending from Ikbis Square in Rajo district and passing through Kafr Janna and Qatmah in Shra district, and sold it to merchants from the occupied areas in northern Syria.

The mercenaries of "Suqur al-Shamal Brigade" affiliated with the Turkish occupation also carried out sabotage excavations with heavy machinery at the archaeological site of Nabi Hori; As a result, rare mosaic paintings appeared, but their fate was not known later, while the Turkish occupation in 2020 changed the features of the archaeological site and turned it into a mosque and raised the Turkish flag above it.

The mercenaries of the Turkish occupation looted the site of Kharabi Guli in the village of A'albisky in Rajo district, and smuggled its antiquities out of Syria, which also included mosaic paintings.

The mercenaries of "Al-Amshat" destroyed the site of Kharabi Raza in the village of Tarmesha in Sheh district, and looted mosaic paintings that were discovered in 2017, and the mercenaries of "Al-Hamzat" and "Ahrar al-Sharqiya" destroyed the ancient Jandres hill and turned it into a military base for the Turkish occupation army.

The mercenaries of the Turkish occupation destroyed the Church of Saint Maron and looted its antiquities, the mercenaries also carried out sabotage digging and looted the antiquities in Tal Halobiya in Shra district, Tal Dodari in Maydanki district, Tal al-Jajiya in Deir Ballut village in Jandres district, Burj Abdalo hill in Sherawa district, Tal Sindyanka in Jandres district, Tal Abidan in Bulbila district, Kafr Rom village' hill in Shra district, Shorba hill in Shra district, Qurt Qulaq hill in Shra district, Brad village in Sherawa district.

The mercenaries of Turkish occupation encroached on religious shrines, bombed and destroyed them, and these shrines are: Hanan shrine in Shra district, Parsa Khatoun, Sheikh Hamid, Qra Journah and Jal Khana shrines in Qastal Jindo village in Shra district, Sheikh Zaid shrine in the city of Afrin, Sheikh Juned and Sheikh Muhammad shrines In Jandres district, Sheikh Mous shrine in Rajo district, Ali Dadah shrine in Sheh district, Sheikh Zaid shrine in Afrin city.

Nature in Afrin after the occupation

The nature of Afrin had the largest share of the crimes of the Turkish occupation and its mercenaries, as they cut down 367,000 olive and forest trees and burned more than 13,500 trees, and more than 12,000 hectares of agricultural land and forests.

Sh-S

ANHA