Facts and recommendations for the new Syrian Government to stop impunity, hold accountable and achieve justice, and facilitate the return of displaced persons to their homes after 7 years of the Turkish military operation “Olive Branch”
On Saturday, January 20th, 2018, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced in a broadcasted speech in the city of Kotahia that Turkish forces had effectively begun a military operation to expel Kurdish fighters from the Afrin.
Turkey launched the military operation “Olive Branch”, using military aircraft and heavy artillery, with the support of Syrian armed factions formerly known as “Syrian National Army” [SNA] to take full control Afrin on March 18, 2018.[1]
This military operation followed the Russian-Turkish agreement that displaced the people of Afrin and eastern Ghouta from their places of origin.
The Turkish presence in Afrin is occupation, as confirmed by reports by international, and human rights bodies. they say Turkey controls the administration and military in north of Syria directly or through an agent (SNA factions).
Turkey had expressed the objective of the military operation to convert its occupied areas into safe areas on its southern border and to ensure the return of Syrian refugees living in Turkey.
however, the city of Afrin has been witnessing, since March, 2018, widespread human rights violations: forced displacement, arbitrary arrest and enforced disappearance, as well as systematic and broad breaches of property rights, housing, land. in addition to, Turkey’s policies of demographic change and Turkifying the Kurdish-majority region.
In this research, INSIGHT highlights the facts resulted from the “olive branch” operation with a set of recommendations proposed to stakeholders.
FACTS:
- On January 20th, 2018, at 4 p.m., Turkey began a large-scale military operation so-called “Olive Branch”. Approximately 25 thousand armed fighters of the SNA took part in it, and battles lasted 58 days, in which Turkey used heavy warplanes and artillery. eventually it took control of the Kurdish-majority region, and extended its control of Afrin along other Syrian cities it had previously occupied under Operation “Euphrates Shield”.
- The military operation displaced approximately 170 thousand civilians, according to the United Nations, from Afrin city and its villages to nearby villages and towns (Nubbul and Zahraa), Tal Rifaat and Shahba, some went to Aleppo (Al-Ashrafiyah and Sheikh Maqsoud), others went to Kobani and northeast Syria (Qamishlo, Hasakah, Raqqa).
- Displaced persons faced severe humanitarian and economic conditions, especially those who settled in Shahba camps (Shahba-Al awdeh -Afrin -Sardam and Berkhodan), which remained unrecognized or registered by the United Nations and its specialized agencies[2], thus lacking the minimum viability of life due to lack of relief and life-saving assistance, as well as insecurity and stability due to the region’s persistent exposure to Turkish attacks.[3]
- Turkey has been effective controller over Afrin since March, 2018, it deployed military bases and points that directly follow it[4], or those belong to “Syrian National Army” factions, which are financially and logistically supported by Turkey[5]. it also oversees the city’s service sector (electricity-education-health-communications) and established a local council in Afrin, which is administered by the Turkish state of Hatay[6]. Turkey also worked to issue identification cards instead of the Syrian Government’s personal cards after concealing the information related to the registry secretariat and the registration number and place, for the purpose of obliterating the identity and directly linked the civil registry system to the Turkish Interior Ministry[7].
- Since its occupation, the city has undergone major demographic changes, with the Kurds falling from 95 per cent to less than 40 per cent of the population’s composition[8]. In contrast, large numbers of Syrian displaced persons have been recruited from other Syrian cities such as eastern Ghouta, Homs, Aleppo and Hama under agreements to the north of Syria. Approximately 450 thousand of them have reached Afrin and have been settled in the homes of the displaced Kurds with the support of Turkey and armed factions. The proportion of Yazidi Kurds in the region also fell from 35-50 thousand Yazidi to only 5000.
- After it occupied the city, Turkey implemented the policy of Turkifying aimed at changing the cultural structure of the city, by demolishing the monuments and symbols or replacing names with other Turkish or Islamic ones to erase Kurdish identity10. The Turkish flag is now attached to all departments, councils and institutions in Afrin. Turkish and Arabic became the official languages at the expense of the local population’s mother tongue [Kurdish] 11. It also opened a branch of Turkey’s Gaziantep University in Afrin and imposed dealing with Turkish Lira in all Syrian cities it occupied.
The celebration of the National Day of Newroz, known for its Kurdish symbolism, was also curtailed. On the eve of March 20, 2023, four young men from one family were killed in Jindires district by members of the “Eastern Army” faction. - The issue of housing rights, land and property is the most prominent in Afrin. Since its occupation, the city has witnessed widespread and systematic violations of local residents’ property, including homes, shops, commercial and industrial enterprises, agricultural land, committed by Turkish forces, armed factions and civilians close to them. The seizure of property was accompanied by looting and theft of houses, shops and agricultural seasons. also some properties were turned to military points and premises.
These practices have contributed directly and fundamentally to the process of demographic change and the persistence of forced displacement of indigenous people12 in the absence of any genuine and effective efforts to restore the owners’ rights and ensure a dignified and safe return for them. - Afrin also witnessed the construction of residential compounds under the supervision of Turkish, Kuwaiti, Qatari and Palestinian organizations. Families of the SNA factions and those close to them were housed in these complexes (more than 35 settlements). Turkey’s main aim was to change the demographics and the Kurdish historical identity of the region. The Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, in its 1995 resolution on Bosnia and Herzegovina, said that any attempt to alter or support a changing demographic composition of a region against the will of indigenous peoples by any means violated international law.
- After Afrin’s occupation, the local population was subjected to grave human rights violations by factions of the national army of arbitrary arrests on charges of dealing with the self-administration and the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), and in detention centres they were subjected to torture, inhuman and cruel treatment, some of whom lost their lives under torture, and the whereabouts of other detainees is still unknown.
Many survivors disclosed that they had paid money for their release. Such practices were repeated by factions in cases like royalties on agricultural seasons and on the property of displaced people, whose property was managed by their relatives, and in exchange for restitution of property that the returnees demanded.13 - There were encroachments on the environment and green areas, too. Large areas of forestry and fruitful trees were logged down14 for the purpose of deforestation and trade. These practices were supervised by leaders of the SNA factions.
During July, 2024, large areas of (Rajo-Bulbul-Mabata) districts were set ablaze for days, causing large areas to burn, as well as civilian property to be damaged. According to reports and testimonies, the setting of fire was intended and some factions were involved in for the purpose of coal trade.
Based on these facts, INSIGHT recommends:
The current Syrian Government:
The current Syrian Transitional Government must stop the ongoing violations in Afrin and endeavor to hold the perpetrators, since 2018, accountable, through fair and independent trials, and ensure that they are not appointed in senior positions in the state to ensure that violations will not recurred by them.
The Government must impose its security control over the city, deploy public security forces, withdraw all armed factions from villages and towns and to be administrated by Aleppo governorate. This require disengagement from the Turkish state and facilitating the local population’s accession to the public security forces, thereby ensuring stability in the region.
Facilitating the return of displaced persons from Afrin and other Syrian areas (who reside in Afrin), after being displaced from their areas of origin by the former regime. and the establishment of an independent legal committee to oversee the restoration of people’s rights and property and to ensure a dignified and safe return.
Release all men and women detained in SNA faction’s prisons in Afrin and those who were transferred to prisons in Turkish territory, and provide them with the necessary support and disclose the fate of the missing persons.
Remove the traces that have changed the city’s features and demographics, preserve the identity of its population as Syrian Kurds, restore Yazidis’ houses of worship, and pay attention to the Kurdish language and include it in educational curriculum.
Preservation of the environment, immediate cessation of unjust deforestation, hold the perpetrators accountable, and launching environmental programmes in cooperation with organizations working in the region such as afforestation campaigns to compensate for the vegetation that were lost as a result of the deforestation and fire.
Prepare studies on damaged archaeological sites, seek to recover what has been looted of artefacts and preserve the remainder.
[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PYuqD7l1PqA
[5] مناطق-عفرين-N-768×1086.jpg (768×1086)
[6] Local Council in Afrin – Search
[7] Syria: Turkish Identification Cards Obliterate Identity of Natives and Displaced populations Alike – Syrians for Truth and Justice
