Two brothers returned to Afrin from the Shahba region on Monday after seven years of displacement, but only the one who paid a fee was allowed to enter his house. He took in his brother to live with him.
“The house was fine with nothing missing, but when we returned there was no heater, no door, a rocket had fallen in the yard, and everything was destroyed. They came and asked us for money saying they bought a door and bought a heater. We said we would borrow money and give it to them so they would leave and we could enter our yard,” a Kurdish returnee told Rudaw in Afrin, requesting anonymity.
Despite all the obstacles, this family wanted to return to the city to end their displacement.
“Outside we were renting, I paid 100,000 [Syrian liras] and every day the landlord wanted an increase, saying ‘get out, I want to marry off my son,’ we suffered greatly,” another Kurdish returnee lamented.
Turkey and the Syrian militia groups it supports took control of Afrin in March 2018 following a military campaign against the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG). The militia groups committed numerous human rights violations, especially against the Kurdish population, documented by local and international organizations. Hundreds of thousands of Kurds fled the city to YPG-held areas.
No official Syrian government decision has been made to support the return of Afrin’s residents. Some families come back on their own, while others return through aid from the Kurdish National Council (ENKS/KNC).
ENKS is a coalition of Kurdish political parties that is considered the main opposition in northeast Syria (Rojava). The umbrella group, which used to be part of the Turkey-backed anti-Assad opposition, has had an office in Afrin for years.
“From Tal Rifaat to Tal Qarah to Shahba, we went and brought our people back by cars. We said come to your homes and your land so that demographic change does not happen in Afrin,” said Jumaa Hassan, a member of the ENKS local council in Afrin. “There was a response, and many people responded and returned to their homes.”
Nearly 300,000 Kurds have been displaced from Afrin since 2018, and while the number of returnees has not yet been officially documented, the ENKS says that 15,000 have come back.
Syria’s interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa visited Afrin in mid-February and met with locals, the majority of whom were Kurds. He pledged to remove armed groups and put an end to the violations, a representative from ENKS who attended the meeting told Rudaw.
A landmark deal between Sharaa and Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) chief Mazloum Abdi earlier in March is accelerating returns, according to ENKS. The agreement seeks to include the SDF into the Syrian state apparatus, recognize the Kurds as an integral part of Syria, and includes a countrywide ceasefire.
It also stipulates the return of displaced Syrians to their hometowns.
Residents of Afrin this year were also able to freely celebrate Newroz, the Kurdish New Year, for the first time since the enclave was invaded by militia groups seven years ago.
