Calls for safe return, after attacks on displaced families from Serekaniye

Seven years after their displacement, residents of Serekaniye had renewed hopes of returning to their city. However, the first return convoy, which set out on August 10, came under attack by individuals occupying the residents’ homes and properties inside the city, raising concerns over the conditions surrounding their return and whether it can be safely secured.

Speaking to ANHA agency, journalist Abdulhalim Suleiman, a Serekaniye native who was displaced along with the city’s residents in 2019, said around 100,000 people had endured difficult living conditions in camps and elsewhere over the past seven years after being displaced from the city and its countryside following the attack launched by Turkey and affiliated factions in October 2019.

Suleiman explained that the fall of the Baath regime and the agreement reached between the Syrian transitional government and the Syrian Democratic Forces renewed displaced people’s hopes of returning to their lands and homes. He noted that preparations had been made for the first return convoy on August 10, but returnees were attacked upon reaching the city by people occupying their homes.

He added that the incident showed the city had not been prepared to receive its returning residents and that some people were opposed to the return of Kurds to their city and villages. He said the issue requires a solution that guarantees the safe return of civilians.

Calls for Safe Return

Suleiman called for ensuring the residents’ return and providing them with clear guarantees, while removing any obstacles in their way and providing decent living conditions that would help them end years of displacement.

He stressed the need to address the issue of homes and properties and remove those occupying them, ensuring the safety of returning families and their right to return to their properties.

Suleiman pointed out that the earlier return of several convoys of displaced people from Afrin to their areas had helped restore hope among displaced people and ease their fears. He added that the return of residents to their cities and villages represents a step toward confronting attempts at demographic change.

He stressed the need to resolve the displacement issue and close the camps, saying that the continued presence of displaced people there prolongs their suffering, particularly residents of Kurdish cities.

Suleiman concluded: “After all these years of injustice and oppression, some are still trying to obstruct the return. If these people do not leave Serekaniye, the suffering of its residents will continue, and this will constitute a violation of the agreement. The government is responsible for these developments because it is present in Serekaniye and administers the area. It must work to consolidate stability.”

a.k

ANHA