Fourth displacement for elderly Kurd: Crime continues, perpetrator remains same despite changing geography

Since the Turkish state and its mercenaries occupied the city of Afrin in 2018, the lives of the area’s original residents have turned into an unbroken chain of forced displacement, marking one of the longest and harshest displacement tragedies witnessed in Syria. After being displaced from Afrin, hundreds of families settled in al-Shahba camps, hoping the displacement would be temporary and would end with a return to their homes. However, political realities and international agreements prevented that hope from being realized.

With the fall of the former Baathist regime as a result of international understandings, and the assumption of power by the so-called transitional government, which includes groups of mercenaries such as al-Amshat, al-Hamzat, the 64th Division, and other formations listed on terrorism registries, the people of Afrin found themselves facing a new wave of forced displacement, this time from the al-Shahba camps, forcing them to seek refuge in areas of the North and East Syria region. No sooner had the wounds of displacement begun to heal than the tragedy was repeated once again, with forced displacement from the cities of al-Shahba and Tal Rifaat toward the cities of the region, in a scene reflecting the continuity of the crime and the unity of the perpetrator.

In a painful humanitarian testimony, displaced resident Khaled Rashid Rashid, in his seventies, spoke of his harsh journey through repeated displacement.

Khaled, originally from the Sheikh Maqsoud neighborhood and a resident of Aleppo for more than fifty years, was forcibly compelled, along with his elderly wife who suffers from several illnesses, to leave their home.

He said, “We were displaced four times: we fled to Afrin, from Afrin to al-Shahba, from al-Shahba to Aleppo, and from Aleppo to Qamishlo. Today, my wife and I are living with our daughter and her husband. We left behind all our property and belongings and escaped with our lives only.”

He added that the fighting in Sheikh Maqsoud, al-Ashrafieh, and Bani Zaid intensified significantly, forcing them to remain for two days amid shelling, the sounds of ambulances, and the cries of residents. Eventually, their old age and exhaustion compelled them to flee forcibly to relatives’ homes in Aleppo for several days, before later heading to the city of Qamishlo.

He concluded his testimony by saying that the sounds of shelling shook the houses over their heads, a scene that revived the nightmares of previous displacements, especially given their proximity to Khaled Fajr Hospital, where the wounded were being treated.

He stressed that what has occurred and continues to occur constitutes an ongoing crime against civilians, under the banner of forced displacement, with one perpetrator despite the multiplicity of stages and locations.

ANHA