Afrin, also known as Çiyayê Kurmênc, is a city located in the western part of Rojava, 63 km away from Aleppo and 90 percent of its residents are Kurds (pre-occupation figures). Before it was occupied by the Turkish state after intense attacks in 2018, Yazidis, Arabs and Armenians lived in unity and solidarity in the city, which has 6 districts and nearly 400 villages… Despite being exposed to a massive migration wave from Syria's other cities such as Aleppo, Deraa, Homs, Idlib, Hama and Raqqa in 2011, the city maintained peace and stability for Syria as well. It was also a potential economic hub.

The hegemonic powers that regarded the democratic management model in North-East Syria as a threat to their own interests, found a pretext and made the fascist Turkish Republic to invade Afrin on January 20, 2018 under the name "Operation Olive Branch". With this attack, fascist chief Erdogan was planning to invade the city with his army in a few days. However, an outstanding resistance was put up for 58 days under the leadership of YPG and YPJ forces with a broad participation of the people.

FROM GENOCIDE TO DEMOGRAPHIC CHANGE

Turkey has more than 50 military bases in the city which has been under occupation for more than 5 years. Moreover, various crimes including kidnapping, pillage, theft, torture, rape, cultural historical genocide and demographic change have been committed in almost all the streets of the city. Around 700 civilians have been tortured and killed, and around 9,000 others have been kidnapped. These figures cover only the crimes that were reported. There are also those whose whereabouts remain unknown. Furthermore, many media outlets and human rights organizations revealed that more than 100 historical sites were plundered and nearly 400,000 trees were cut down in the city.

Four Kurds from the same family, Ferhan Osman (43), İsmail Osman (38), Muhammed İsmail (18) and Muhammed Osman (42), who lit a fire to celebrate Newroz on March 20 in the Jindires district of the city, were brutally murdered and three others were injured. A Turkey-backed paramilitary organization called Ahrar al-Sharqiya was claimed to have carried out the attack. 10 days after the incident, in a video it was seen that two Yazidis, Şêxo Arif and Heyder Arif from the village of Qîbarê in the Shera district, were forced to convert to Islam by the so-called sheikhs of the association called 'Al Waqif'. Some pro-occupation individuals and institutions started to spread the images of both events through their social media accounts. This has caused suspicions.

IS IT A JOINT PLAN?

As the centennial of the Treaty of Lausanne which divided Kurdistan is looming, it is predicted that some plans have been put into effect, which may further escalate the situation. According to this plan of which the KDP, which has maintained its dirty relations with the fascist AKP-MHP government for nearly 20 years, is a partner, a regime will be established in Afrin under the leadership of ENKS (the organization that denies the demographic change in Afrin) and Al Nusra in order to harness Turkey-backed mercenary groups. The plan can also be seen as a preliminary step for a new invasion of Rojava, where Turkish drone and artillery attacks continue. For the last few years, Turkish intelligence service head Hakan Fidan and his Syrian counterpart, Ali Mamluk, have frequently met in secret meetings. In recent talks, the government of Damascus made an offer that 'ENKS can be recognized in Afrin'. These developments show that the government of Damascus is a partner in these plans. The most dramatic part of all these vicious plans was that some Kurds were sacrificed by the Turkish state and its collaborators.