The occupation represents a usurpation of rights .. it reshapes the social system of the occupied region according to its political orientations and future aspirations .. it works to erase the cultural identity and the prevailing social intellectual principles before it comes, and focuses mainly on new generation. The occupier imposes its culture through schools and educational courses on this generation, so the occupation sows its seeds in the generations to grow up with it .. and conveys new social habits aimed at destroying what the society previously had .. it rules with a hand of iron and threatening tone, then it terrifies large groups of society to force them to leave and move outside the region. Thus, it allows for a systematic demographic change aimed at creating an internal balance to facilitate controlling country and people
What happened in occupied Afrin is not only an occupation, but also a largest forced displacement and demographic change in the second millennium .. in addition to comprehensive thefts that affected all Afrin and are still continuing today .. Afrin region was a symbol of religious tolerance, national coexistence, a good example of relief and embracing people in need from all over Syria. Afrin in its general Kurdish character and small numbers of Arab component that melted mainly in its Kurdish community by intermarriage, did not see racial discrimination as it is witnessing now .. Afrin, where several religious sects live … where there is Sunni majority with the presence of some Alawites, Yezidis and Christians, was an example of religious coexistence .. mosques, churches, Alawite shrines, Yazidi feasts, and the graves of the righteous people were never witnessing this discrimination before the Turkish occupation and its mercenaries of Afrin .. Afrin, which embraced Syrians from all over Syria, who sought asylum to it in the crisis to escape from destruction and fighting .. Afrin welcomed them lovingly .. They lived safe years in the shadow of its olives and worked to survive, it is not like Afrin today, in which everything was changed and converted into a city that terrorists wreak havoc .. a city that is not governed by laws but rather by gangs .. a city where the enemy turkificationed its schools, distorted its history, replaced its residents, legalized its properties, kidnapped its youth and assaulted its women .. what remains from Afrin ???!!!
These policies are applied systematically not only in Afrin, but also in all our occupied regions .. in Ras al-Ain these policies are applied also, and even in the occupied city of Tal Abyad whose Arab identity did not prevent it to be occupied. The Turkish state still lives in the mentality of past centuries, declaring war, occupying cities and lands, violating international law and human beings … Turkish politics live in their past, and they have not developed and cannot be developed to search for political solutions through dialogue and using diplomacy as in modern-day politics, but the Ottoman methods are preferred, as if they are far from the developments of world politics, which refuse to occupy one country by another and violate its rights.
The radical factions affiliated to Turkey and backed by it militarily and logistically, control the Kurdish areas of Afrin, which were not at any time a source of threat to Turkey, but were a model of peaceful coexistence among all components of Syria … an example of religious and national coexistence … and a model praised by many Western journalists who visited Afrin and saw its reality .. the concept of emancipation of women was embodied in Afrin .. they had a leading role in managing the region alongside men and had the most prominent role in influencing society and its development .. the religious freedoms were equal to religious living .. there were Christians, Alevis, Yazidis, and Sunni Muslims, all of these were free to practice their rituals without any discrimination or preference .. the civil government that was conducting the affairs of the region was not limited to Arabs or Kurds , but also included people who were mainly from outside the region, as a form of participation by all residents of Afrin in the management of its affairs.
Now everything has changed … the region has been completely looted … religious freedoms have been completely restricted … religious coexistence has become virtually non-existent … kidnapping, demanding ransom and killing become common … the Turkish language has become an official language in schools … and the morning salutation has become for the Turkish occupation flag … the whole region has become under the command of security committees and radical extremist factions … implementing demographic change is the most dangerous thing being done now .. it is very different to compare between Afrin’ past and present, between Tel Abyad and Ras Al-Ain previously and now .. all our occupied areas suffer from the same politics .. and if we compare ” the Euphrates Shield Regions” and those which were recently occupied we find a very big difference .. between freedom that the individual enjoys, services provided to citizens and excellent security, and between regions run by extremist gangs that have become a focus of corruption in which freedom and services are lacked, security and security are always distorted .. the colonizer always distorts history by plundering historical and cultural stockpile of the occupied land with the aim of obliterating its cultural and historical heritage .. thereby obscuring its identity .. the ruins of Afrin, Tal Abyad and Ras al-Ain were not survived from looting of antiquities … they ( gangs) also excavated, exhumed and smuggled them to Turkey .. the blurring of history is an extreme crime, it aims to obscure the true identity of the region .. all these practices are a crime against the people of the region who live in the camps of Shahba regions, and look forward daily to return Afrin, waiting impatiently … we can only shake the hands of our resisting people who have the legitimate right In the resistance to restore their usurped right by all means and we call upon the international parties to show solidarity with us in order our people return to their homes, the occupier leaves lands that he controlled and forming an investigation committee under international sponsorship to uncover the violations of the occupier and his crimes which are considered a shame on the forehead of the humanity in our modern era and bring him to trial…we reaffirm that we have the full right and so have our people in every way to return and expel the occupier.
Sinem Muhammad
Representative of the Syrian Democratic Council in Washigton