Afrinpost – Special
Two elderly residents of the occupied Kurdish region of Afrin live in forced displacement camps in the Shahba areas, severely severing their lonliness, as they are anxiously awaiting the departure of the Turkish occupier, Muslim Brotherhood militants and supporters from their families, from their land so that they can return to their homes.
It is an indisputable fact, that each tent hides inside a touching story for the Afrini families in the camps located in the Shahba regions, and the lives of the elderly “Khalil Muhammad” and “Fatima Othman” who are more than 60 years old and have been living in the city of Afrin, and have been abandoned for nearly The two years to Sardam camp in Al-Shahba.
The elderly man “Khalil Muhammad” says that they came out with great tragedy and difficulty from Afrin due to the intense bombing of warplanes on civilians, as he had suffered on the roads from one village to another a lot until he managed to reach safety in Al-Shahba.
“Khalil” describes the scene saying: “We were seeking protection from the indiscriminate bombing by hiding under the shade of the olive tree on the way of the mountain of Al-Ahlam. I used to go from one tree to another and every time I look up, I see the plane again in the sky until I thought it was chasing me intentionally, and this is what made me Continuing my journey out of Afrin crawling among the farmlands. ”
“Khalil” suffers from severe aches in his leg due to the difficulties he encountered during the exit from Afrin while he is receiving treatment during this period, except that in light of the weak materials and capabilities in the region, he did not benefit from the treatment enough and became unable to move and walk comfortably on his own and always needs someone to lay on.
Khalil stresses that after this long and full of difficulties and worries, he has no desire but to return to his land in Afrin and see its olive trees and smell its soil, after the departure of the Turkish occupier and the Muslim Brotherhood militants who are known as (the Syrian National Army / Free Army), from their lands in Afrin and salvation from living in camps that they are not used to.
The elderly, Fatima Othman, wife of Khalil, who put it not much better than her husband, says that they faced many difficulties and obstacles while trying to escape from the Turkish occupation, as they were not aware of where to go and what they were waiting for, and for how long they would stay away from their homeland .
Fatima added that they were on their way on the road to the village of Kurzeila, they came across a car, among all the cars were leaving the area full of civilians,where they were reached to the villages of the district of Sherawa, and from there they rented a car to reach the area of Tal Rifaat.
Several months later, and with the establishment of camps in Al-Shahba district, the elderly people went from Tal Rifaat towards the Sardam camp in the village of Tel Susin in the areas of Al-Shahba, and they have been living in it for nearly two years.
Fatima stresses that they suffer the life of the camps many difficulties and obstacles, as the winter has become too long for them , very cold and harsh, and that the heat in the summer does not spare them from diseases and aches, and demands that the Turkish occupation come out of their land and the land of their ancestors, to return to their homes between their possessions Which the Turkish invasion and the Muslim Brotherhood did not leave anything of them.
Despite the harsh conditions in the forced displacement camps, they may not be considered the worst, compared to the ongoing attacks against the elderly inside Afrin, with the aim of breaking their will and resistance.
On December 28, 2019, the Afrinpost had obtained a videotape from one of its followers, by an elderly Kurdish woman named “Sabah Muhammad Hussein” who lives in the Ashrafieh neighborhood near the eastern entrance to Afrin in the vicinity of Al-Qaws, suffering poverty after her son was kidnapped By militants of the Islamic militias of the Turkish occupation and the Muslim Brotherhood.
One of the sons of the 78-year-old Kurdish widow, who is from the village of Qara Gule, has been kidnapped by Islamic militias since the occupation of Afrin and his fate remains unknown until today.
The armed men of the “Al-Mu’tasim Brigade” militia, stole all the household furniture in her house, as she was transported to the front of the house, while the relief official, who is the settler “Abu Hamdo” from the people of Khan Sheikhoun in Idlib countryside, refuses to provide aid to her because she is (Kurdish), and he was armed within the “Free Police” militia at the same time.
In this context, the elderly Suleiman Hamko was killed, in the beginning of November 2019, as a result of the severe injury he suffered during an armed robbery against his house by the militants of “Ahrar al-Sharqiya militia” and the “Hamza” division of the Turkish occupation and the Muslim Brotherhood, in the village of Kaaniya Korkeh,in the Raju district, in the occupied Kurdish region of Afrin.
At the end of August 2019, the elderly, “Muhyiddin Aso / 77 years old”, was killed after he was severely beaten by the militants of the Islamic militia, who deliberately stole his house in the Ashrafieh neighborhood, in an area near the headquarters of the “Al-Shamiya Front” militia.
Nearly twelve days after the death of the elderly, “Muhyiddin”, his elderly wife, Houria Mohamed Bakr, 74, was killed on September 6, 2019, as a result of the severe beating he suffered in the chest cage, which caused continuous internal bleeding until he She passed away.
