Peoples’ United Revolutionary Movement (HBDH) Executive Committee released a statement marking the second anniversary of the start of Afrin’s invasion by the Turkish state.

HBDH recalled that hundreds of people were massacred and hundreds of thousands were forced to leave their homes after the occupation attacks against the city began on 20 January 2018.

“Afrin has been looted and pillaged. The occupant AKP regime is deepening the genocide in and around Afrin, and is still intending to strangle the people of Afrin under encirclement. Thousands from the Kurdish and Arab families who remained in the city have been abducted by the gangs. The fate of hundreds of people is still unknown,” said the statement.

HBDH continued; “The people and self-defense forces of Afrin mounted selfless resistance in response to the occupation attack for two months. The fascist Turkish army and allied mercenaries were met with resistance in the city and mountains of Afrin. The resistance of Afrin which went down in history has proved that the Rojava revolution, which is a hope for the peoples of the world, will never surrender. Forces of the HBDH also took their part in the battlefield alongside Afrin’s self-defense forces to protect the lands of the revolution, fighting in the front line in Rajo, Jindires and Mabeta at the cost of martyrs.

The resistance has continued since with the people of Afrin who are now living in the Shehba region and with the actions of the Afrin Liberation Forces (HRE).

In the face of intensified operations against the fascist Turkish state that has raised and supported the ISIS remnants, the occupation forces were confined to their base areas, rendered unable to move freely in the city center and villages. After every action in which they suffered heavy losses, they carried out bombardments on villages in Sherawa and Shehba and the Tal Rifat town.

The mercenaries have become the front soldiers of the Turkish state which has used thousands of them in its occupation attacks against Gire Spi and Serekaniye, and made them a part of its expansionist policies against Libya. The fascist Turkish state that has settled thousands of al-Nusra gangs and family members in Afrin so far is currently in a tight corner in Idlib where it has established observation points and undertaken mediation. Not sticking to the deals made with Russia, the Turkish state came up against the regime forces.

The people of Afrin have always maintained their place among the sources of resistance in the Kurdish freedom struggle ongoing for dozens of years. Thousands of them sacrificed their lives in the resistance against fascism yet they never gave up the desire for freedom. After Kobane, Afrin was one of the cities where the first steps of revolution were taken in July 2012. It became one of the cantons of the autonomous administration system built by the Rojava revolution. It created examples with the councils and communes where people administer themselves.

One of the fundamental steps for enhancing the Rojava revolution is to liberate the occupied lands such as Afrin, Gire Spi and Serekaniye. Solidarity with the people of Afrin, who have been resisting for the expulsion of invaders, is the mission of all peoples of the world, with the Middle East being in the first place. The accomplishment of the Afrin resistance and expulsion of invaders from the lands of revolution is possible by enhancing the struggle against fascism and integrating the revolution with the people at a further advanced level.

The Peoples’ United Revolutionary Movement will never leave the peoples and self-defense forces of Rojava alone in the fight to liberate the lands of revolution.”