Silêman Siteyfo’s family had been forced to settle in Northern Syrian provinces following the Ottoman Empire’s massacres against the Syriac people. They now settled in Qamishlo, and Silêman Siteyfo says, “The same genocide our grandfathers were subjected to back in the day is happening now in Afrin.”

The invading Turkish state has enacted massacres against the diverse peoples of the region throughout history, like Kurds, Syriacs, Arabs, Êzidîs and Armenians. Many families who survived these massacres migrated to Northern Syrian provinces to try to continue with their lives there.

One of the people who had to settle in Northern Syria due to Turkish state massacres is Silêman Siteyfo, born in 1937. Siteyfo recalls his grandftaher talking to him about the great massacre they and other people who share their faith were subjected to by the Ottoman Empire, and says he lost 5 uncles in that massacre. Siteyfo is now stationed in the Sherqî Neighborhood Council in Qamishlo, and says the Turkish state’s attacks against Afrin is the same as their massacres against Kurds, Arabs, Armenians, Syriacs and Êzidîs.

Silêman thinks the union peoples and faiths have formed is a response to the massacres the Turkish state has imposed for centuries: “The Turkish state killed Syriacs en masse, but these genocide attacks were not successful. Today there are millions of Syriacs alive. The Turkish state wants to enact the same massacre and genocide in Afrin today.”

Silêman says the union the peoples of Northern Syria have founded will not allow the invasion of Afrin: “Turkey is killing civilians every day in Afrin. ISIS gangs are also based in Turkey. Afrin belongs to the people of Afrin. This isn’t the first time Turkey has barbarically attacked peoples. This time, the peoples are united against the genocidal attacks of the Turkish state. We will not let the people of Afrin suffer the same massacre as the Syriac people.”