Burying Afrin’s identity, Erdogan’s way to control post-war Syria

Ahmed Sami Abdelfattah

Syrian pro-Turkish armed factions operating within the Operation Olive Branch continue their arbitrary measures against Kurdish citizens in the city of Afrin.

Having been expelling the Kurds from their homes, looted and destroyed their cultural heritage in Afrin for over 20 months, a report by the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) revealed that 25 Kurdish teachers were forced to leave their jobs and appointed new Arab ones.

This comes as a part of a systematic political cleansing that aims at changing the identity of the Kurdish-majority region, which the militias has controlled since the spring of 2018.

It is worth mentioning that these appointees belong to families supporting Syrian opposition factions, coming from the areas of eastern Qalamoun, Eastern Ghouta and Homs countryside.

In the same regard, Syrian armed factions, supported by Turkey, evicted Kurdish families from their homes in the towns of Afrin, claiming to be associated with the YPG.

The move was only a part of a bigger systematic plan devised by the Turkish regime, to change the demographic map of the regions controlled by armed militias loyal to Ankara.

After forcing Kurdish residents out of their homes in northwest Syria, the Turkish-backed militias pillaged private property, looting the homes of the citizens who fled Afrin, according to SOHR.

Meanwhile, those who have clung on to their properties say they must contend with unrelenting threats of abduction and extortion.

The cleansing of schools with Kurdish teachers is not the first time it has been carried out. Kurdish activists have reported that the Education Authority affiliated to the pro-Turkey local council of Afrin dismissed four teachers last June in the area of Jindris, accusing them of affiliation to the former self-administration.

For its part, the statement stressed that foreign countries that intervened in Syria have committed crimes and violations against humanity.

The observatory has also documented that Turkish planes killed 830 Syrian civilians, including 270 children. On the other hand, the Syrian Federation for Human Rights called on the international community in Afrin to intervene and stop the killing and forced evacuations against the Kurds.

It is noteworthy that Turkey is currently seeking to establish a 32km-deep safe area in northern Syria along the border with Syria in order to keep the YPG from its borders. This means that it will seize this opportunity and push the refugees to the city of Afrin in order to ensure a kind of demographic change.

Researcher Mohamed Hamed, an expert on Turkish affairs, said the Turkish regime realizes that the war in Syria resulted in negative effects on its interests, especially the formation of the YPG, which poses a direct threat to Turkey’s national security.

He also added in an interview with the Reference that the Turkish regime is seeking to correct its situation by pushing Syrian refugees out of Turkey towards Afrin as Erdogan seeks to form a counter wall against the YPG.