Sardar Mladarwish: The human tragedy and current challenges, Afrin, since March 2018

The paper discussed by the director of the Aso News Network, Sardar Mladarwish, at the Syrian Women Lobby Conference
Conference title: Analyzing the course of the political process in Syria and extrapolating scenarios for the next stage.
Program: Towards sustainable peace and democracy in Syria through the promotion of civil society and women’s rights
Date: October 24, 2020, Paris (The conference took place online due to the Corona pandemic)
Theme title: Tracks on the ground, field development, and the humanitarian file

Sardar Mladarwish
The human tragedy and current challenges, Afrin, since March 2018
Human reality

On the eighteenth of March 2018, Turkey declared war on the city of Afrin, in northern Syria, by supporting undisciplined Syrian armed opposition groups, in the name of Operation Olive Branch, which led to the illegal occupation of Afrin, with an agreement between Turkey and Russia, which resulted in control of The city and its countryside, which were administered by the Democratic Self- Administration, and led by SDF (represented by Asayish and YPG). The operation resulted in the displacement of the indigenous population, and then settlers were brought in from other governorates.

The number of people displaced from Afrin due to the Turkish occupation, supported by the Syrian factions, is close to 300 thousand, six thousands of them live in the camps of Al-Shahba areas near Afrin. Before this invasion, the Kurds constituted the majority of the indigenous population of Afrin by about 90%, while today they do not constitute more than 30 %, After a demographic and political change occurred, by bringing in 400,000 people as a form of settlement and preparing for future projects.

The deteriorating security situation in Afrin today has made news of the arrest and kidnapping a daily occurrence. There are more than 6,500 detainees and kidnappers so far. Arrest and kidnapping crimes are usually associated with violations that include psychological torture, attempts to pressure and extortion by requesting large sums of money (recently / recently documented) Organizations, for example, the case of the citizen (a 63-year-old HB who was asked for $ 10,000 in exchange for his release or will face a detention period of 15 years on charges that he was with the Self-Administration in the past), as well as the latest report of the International Commission of Inquiry on Syria clarified the extent of violations against women. Videos coming from Afrin that during one of the conflicts between the armed factions there, some women managed to escape from their detention centres, and these violations were not widely recognized even by those interested in feminist affairs.

The military forces in Afrin are represented by factions under the name of NSA, which is supported directly by Turkey, and politically it represents the existing forces, the Syrian Interim Government and the Syrian National Coalition.
Today, the Afrin farmer who remained in the city and its countryside despite the bitter circumstances is suffering from several violations, such as sharing his livelihoods or imposing taxes on his crops, in addition to cutting more than 30,000 olive trees and burning 15,000 other trees in the city famous for olive cultivation, and these are approximate statistics that do not reflect the seriousness of reality.
In Afrin today, you are just condemned to be a Kurd. This is a general picture imposed by the occupation. Also, the percentage of those remaining in the city is the percentage of the elderly, the generation of young women and the youth. Not everyone has the ability to stay for fear of abuse.

There is another important issue that must take a national dimension, which is the issue of antiquities, as the Ain Dara temple was destroyed after the Turkish occupation and looted and stolen its antiquities. Tal Jenderes and Tal Taranda also archaeological sites where looting took place, meaning that Afrin, which was rich in its antiquities today, faces a historical disaster.
Afrin has not seen since its occupation, just as the occupation of other cities (Serekaneh / Ras al-Ain and Tal Abyad), and solidarity from the revolutionary forces in a serious manner, and those who had an anti-occupation stance feared for their interests in Turkey and did not declare decisive positions.

In the end, people in Afrin today are living in very difficult conditions, despite the assessment of the harsh conditions that Syrians from other regions have also experienced and have been displaced, but today there is a reality that must be described. The indigenous people of Afrin are subjected to many violations. There is no dispute, perhaps, about the bad system, which led to the revolution itself. However, there are practices and violations being committed today in the name of the revolution and the opposition. This in itself made the inhabitants of the occupied territories only wish for a safe return. Their main problem is no longer the regime, but the presence of these factions that commit these violations, after the launch of the peace movement in 2011 for real change. I believe that the militarization the movement was one of the worst conditions that occurred. Despite the regime’s known criminality, there are some circumstances that we had to rectify, and today we pay the price for that and go to the settlement paths that were not acceptable at the beginning of the revolution.

In the end, the residents of these areas today do not have the option of changing the regime only to settle down, as they need to break this opposition and dismantle Turkey’s occupation of them in order to be able to live in safety.