Forcibly IDPs from Afrin: our cause is integral part of comprehensive solution to Syrian crisis

Amid the security chaos and massacres committed in areas under the control of the Syrian Interim Government, its inability to implement the terms of the March 10 agreement is evident, especially regarding the safe return of displaced persons. The return has become a hollow political card aimed at pressuring the Autonomous Administration instead of being regarded as a legal and humanitarian right. This makes the solution dependent on international intervention that guarantees rights and provides protection.

Human rights activist and director of the Human Rights Organization – Afrin Syria, Ibrahim Sheikho, emphasized that the right of return is clearly stipulated in the International Covenant and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. However, what is happening in Syria, especially in Kurdish-majority areas such as Afrin, Serêkaniyê/ Ras al-Ain, and Tal Abyad, alongside As-Suwayda, Daraa, and the coast, shows that displacement is based on identity.

Sheikho added that this right is used by some political forces as a bargaining chip to extort displaced populations and the Autonomous Administration, constituting a clear violation of international law.

He noted that displaced persons have been deprived of return for over eight years and called on international organizations to play an active role in implementing the March 10 agreement signed between the Commander of the Syrian Democratic Forces, Mazloum Abdi, and the head of the Syrian Interim Government, Ahmad al-Shara’, specifically its fifth clause concerning safe return, through direct supervision and providing real guarantees to prevent repeated massacres and violations against returnees.

Citizen Alif Mohammad, displaced from occupied Afrin, affirmed that safe return is a legitimate right that is non-negotiable, but it can only be realized with international guarantees and the withdrawal of the Turkish occupation and its mercenaries from Afrin.

She explained that individual return cases by some residents have proven that the reality remains dangerous, with returnees subjected to violence, kidnapping, and violations. She stressed that any return under occupation is not safe and is only intended to break the will of the displaced and impose a fait accompli by force.

Alif considered that the Syrian Interim Government’s procrastination in implementing the terms of the March 10 agreement aims to break the will of the displaced and enforce individual return under the domination of occupation and mercenaries. However, the people and their administration from all factions reject this path and will not allow the repetition of massacres against the people of Afrin and Shahba, affirming that safe return is inevitably coming as a step towards rescuing this people and reaching safety.

Meanwhile, displaced citizen Mohammad Bayram from occupied Afrin said that the Interim Government is incapable of maintaining security neither in Afrin nor even in Damascus, amid escalating violations and identity-based killings, confirming that it is not qualified to make sovereign decisions concerning the country’s future.

Bayram added that the refusal of mercenaries to leave Afrin and the entry of the so-called "General Security Forces" affiliated with the government reveal its weakness and inability to impose stability. Even if international peacekeeping forces intervene, the return will not be safe as what is happening in Syria is a disguised civil war, managed through mobilizing segments of the population against each other. This makes the forcibly displaced issue from Afrin and al-Shahba a distinctly international matter requiring urgent regional and international intervention.

Bayram concluded by affirming that solving the Afrin and al-Shahba issue is linked to solving the Syrian crisis as a whole, and that achieving comprehensive security and peace requires an active role from Arab countries, in addition to France, Britain, and the United States, alongside political and cultural elites within Syria, to ensure a safe return that preserves the dignity of Syrians and opens the path to stability.

ANHA