The lie of the return of Afrin IDPs

Attempts by the Turkish state continue to legitimize its occupation of the Syrian regions, in an attempt to use all methods that would remove the character of terrorism from it, especially after the emergence of reports by international organizations condemning Turkey publicly for committing war crimes in the areas under its control, especially in Afrin.

Turkey is striving to take advantage of the state of general confusion witnessed by the Kurdish forces and the impact it has on the political parties in Syria. Recently, there have been indications, including Turkey’s attempt to benefit from some Kurdish personalities close to it, and try to put these personalities in the forefront to gain the popular base. The intensive campaign of calls launched by representatives of the Kurdish National Council in Syria (ENKS) such as Abdulhakim Bashar and Nuri Brimo regarding the return of the displaced, not only to Afrin, but to all areas under the control of the Turkish occupation was nothing but an implementation of Turkey’s policies and legitimizing its occupation of the occupied areas, and covering up the practices of its mercenaries there, in addition to its attempt to assure the public opinion that the occupied areas are safe and that there are no violations there.

This was confirmed by Ibrahim Berro, member of the ENKS Foreign Relations Committee, saying: “The people of Afin must return to Afrin. There are no violations or immoral practices in light of the presence of ENKS offices in Afrin,” adding: “the services and living condition under the factions in Afrin and Sere Kaniye (Ras al-Ain) is much better than the areas controlled by the Autonomous Administration.” Perhaps this was what became clear at the last meeting that brought together representatives of ENKS and the British policy advisor in Istanbul at the end of last month. The meeting dealt with ways to enable the displaced Kurds from Afrin, Sere Kaniye (Ras al-Ain) and Gire Spi (Tel Abyad) to return to their homes, accusing the SDF of preventing them from returning, especially those residing in the villages and camps of Shahba areas in the Aleppo northern countryside, forgetting the violations that Afrin residents, who were deceived and returned, were subjected to. According to the Human Rights Organization-Afrin, the families who returned to the city were kidnapped with the intent of asking for ransom and extorting their families financially in exchange for their release. Additionally, they were housed in housing complexes far from their villages.

In light of the previous data, the repeated calls by the ENKS for the IDPs to return to their homes will not succeed as a large segment of the IDPs do not trust them, and their claims contradict what is happening on the ground such as conducting the Turkification policy, continuing violations against those who remained in their villages, creating a new scene in its geography by bulldozing graves, cutting down trees, destroying the landmarks of the Yazidis, building fences, establishing military bases, and so on.