IDPs women: Afrin is ours, we 'll exclude the occupation

Afrin women forcibly displaced by the Turkish occupation and its mercenaries since 2018, and residing in the Sheikh Maqsoud and Ashrafieh neighborhoods, demanded urgent intervention from the United Nations to ensure their safe return to their homes after the Turkish occupation and its mercenaries are removed from the region. They affirmed their rejection of any return while the occupation continues.

Jihan Mustafa pointed to the suffering faced by those returning to Afrin, who are treated as strangers in their own land, subjected to interrogation, identity checks, and forced to pay sums of money to reclaim their homes from settlers and Turkish occupation mercenaries.

Jihan affirmed her rejection of this reality, saying, "We are the owners of the land and enjoy an independent will. The Turkish flag raised in our region does not represent our identity or our history. Our return will be with dignity and under our own flag, and we will not accept it until the mercenaries withdraw completely."

For her part, Aya Hamo stressed the "necessity of ending the injustice inflicted on the people of Afrin by the Turkish occupation mercenaries." She emphasized that the return of the displaced requires serious international intervention to pressure the Turkish occupation to completely withdraw from the region.

She added, "We reject any measure of return while the Turkish occupation and its mercenaries remain, and we do not accept their presence or the raising of their flag in our region."

Mezkin Mohammed emphasized that "Afrin will remain for its people, no matter how long the exile lasts, and that the date of return is near."

She said, "With our steadfastness and resistance in the most difficult humanitarian conditions, we will regain our rights, and we will continue to demand them until the end. The occupation must realize that its end in the region is near."

T/S

ANHA