Afrinpost – Special
Baflun is the only village to which no one of its residents has returned, and its location was a curse on it, so it was targeted early and repeatedly bombed, and after its occupation it was persecuted due to its ideological peculiarity and its people were prevented from returning to it.
Name and location:
Gundî Baflûnê village, it was said that the origin of the name is Syriac, for a fortified summer vacation site, and it belongs to the area of Shara / Sharan, located in the eastern mountain of Afrin, it overlooks the city of Azaz, about 15 km away from Afrin city center, and it is one of the pure Yazidi villages. The number of houses in it is estimated (75) and the number of its inhabitants is approximately 350 people.
The beginning of the village:
The story circulating about the origin of the village says that about two centuries ago, a person named Ibrahim Ali Kur fled with his cousin Hannan, two followers of the Yazidi religion, with their families from the village of Qatma, intending to be in a safe place to escape from the oppression of the Ottomans at the time, and they chose a fortified mountain location with abundant water, as there are underground water tanks, and they lived in caves at that time, and with the passage of time that spot revived and the number of family members increased and was known as Baflun to this day. And near it, an English camp was built for oil exploration in the 1950s, and there are still remnants of a stone-paved road from the east of the village of Qatma dating back to that period.
Baflun Forest:
The people of Baflun work in agriculture and raising livestock, and the most important types of trees are olives and fruits. They also grow grains and vegetables, and in the vicinity of it are green forests, and it is noticed in the village some old houses built of mud with wooden roofs, and there are a number of caves and ground water tanks that people used to fill with cold fresh water in summer.
In the testimony of the engineer Mamdouh Tobal about the Baflun Forest, he says: The late Sheikh Ahmed Jaafar, a resident of the village of Baflun, cultivated an area of about 15 hectares of his private property in the “Aalema” site, east of the village, at the foot of Mount Baflun with rare natural forest trees, such as fir, cedar, conifers and broadleaves, to be a botanical garden that includes more than fifty species of plants from different countries up to Japan and China, by bringing seeds by students studying abroad, and next to the forest a shrine known as the Shrine of Sheikh Sharaf al-Din was established, and the forest became famous that all those interested in forestry in Syria used to organize study trips for agricultural students to it, and this forest was registered with the International Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), and it was written about it, and Mr. Ahmed Jaafar was introduced in its periodical at the time as the first person in the Middle East to plant a special forest, and also the forest was visited by the Italian experts, such as the Italian project manager in 2000 Dr. Cavelli Gazzelli, Dr. Benadito Dolllingo and others, and this plant diversity was mentioned by the Turkish forest expert, Dr. Muzaffar Dogrow. on the Tree Festival in 2007, a central ceremony was held at the Koble site, and the late Ahmed Jaafar was rewarded in front of a crowd.
Baflun during the Turkish aggression
The village of Baflun was subjected to missile strikes for years before the aggression due to its location in the confrontation line with the militias affiliated with Turkey and its proximity to the city of Azaz, and in May 2016 a citizen was killed and a number of citizens were injured as a result of the shelling by the Muslim Brotherhood militia from the nearby city of Azaz.
During the Turkish aggression on Afrin region, the invading forces tried to control it, because it contained one of the most important ruling hills, and it enjoyed an important geographical location, due to its height and its direct supervision over the city of Azaz, the village, and its occupation meant fiery control of the nearby villages.
On January 31, 2018, the Turkish aggression’s artillery targeted military sites belonging to the People’s Protection Units (YPG) in Mount “Baflun”, and the shelling renewed on 2/4/2018, as Turkish artillery targeted military sites of the People’s Protection Units in the village.
On 11/2/2018, the Turkish army intensified its aerial bombardment in an attempt to advance in the outskirts of Afrin countryside, and the Turkish forces bombed the villages of Baflun, Arab Weran and Deir Siwan, northeast of Afrin, and the village of Kafar Safra, north of the town of Jenderes, with artillery and missile shells. On Friday 16/2/2018, Turkish warplanes bombed areas in the village of Baflun.
On 4/3/2018, the Turkish forces and affiliated militias occupied the village of Baflun, while its people had previously evacuated and headed to the city of Afrin.
During the invasion of the Turkish army and the Muslim Brotherhood militias, five houses were completely destroyed, and the entire contents of the other homes were stolen, including supplies, savings, tools, energy devices, and others. Twenty agricultural tractors, five cars and an olive press were seized, as well as the armed men of “al-Shamiya Front” militia seized the entire property of the people of the village, even those residing in Afrin, and it includes about 25 thousand olive trees and 5000 grapes.
Baflun after the occupation:
After the Turkish occupation of the village, al-Shamiya Front militia took control of the village, and at that time it was empty of residents due to the ferocity of the battles and the intensity of the bombing. The people of the village fled to the city of Afrin, hoping to return after the end of the fighting, but the occupation of Afrin prevented their return, especially because of discrimination and religious persecution against followers of the Yazidi religion.
About 13 families of the people of the village of Baflun tried to return to it, except for the militants of al-Shamiya militia prevented them from entering the village, forcing them to remain in the city of Afrin and the village of Qatmah, and thus no one from the village was able to return to it. About 150 families who were brought in were resettled instead of them, while another 50 families were resettled in a camp built with block rooms in the “Betrol” site, north of the village. According to the weekly report of the Unity Party Yekiti issued on 01/16/2021.
In an expression of feelings of hatred and religious extremism, the armed men of the “al-Shamiya Front” militia that occupies the village vandalized the shrines in the village cemetery, transforming a house dedicated to mourning in the village into a mosque, and the religious shrine was transformed into a military headquarters by “al-Shamiya”.
The forest surrounding the village was subjected to unjust logging campaigns, and was deliberately set on fire in the summer and fall of 2019, and forests containing about four thousand varied forest trees, more than half a century old, were planted by the late Sheikh Ahmed Jaafar and his sons were prevented from returning to the village to manage their property.
A settlement in the village
On 11/12/2020, the Turkish authorities began a project to build a settlement in the vicinity of the mountain village of Baflun, and through their local councils, they distributed free lands to 70 settler families from the northern countryside of Aleppo and the families of militia gunmen. The settlement’s funding came from the Muslim Brotherhood’s organizations that receive support and funding from the State of Qatar and Kuwait, and it was called “the Cooperation Camp”. The Human Rights Organization – Afrin stated that 200 USD was given to each family to be able to build.
To encourage settlement, the Northern Storm militia led by Saleh al-Omari guarantees the olive fields belonging to the displaced villages of (Qastal Jindo, Baflun and Qatma) for the settlers, so that they can grow them with grains or vegetables.
Mosque in the house
On 1/24/2019, The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights stated that the militants of “al-Jabha al-Shamiya” militia in the Yazidi village of Baflun removed the wall of a house and turned the house into a mosque, and a displaced person was appointed as an imam. While the original people of the village are prevented from returning and entering their village and their homes, and “al-Jabha al-Shamiya” militia prevents the harvesting of olives for all fields of forcibly displaced Kurdish citizens, under the pretext that it is a “war spoil” in the villages it controls, including the village of Baflun.
Disagreement between the militias
On 9/18/2018 an atmosphere of tension descended on the village of Baflun against the background of fighting due to a verbal altercation that took place between a gunman from al-Jabha al-Shamiya militia, who was stopped by a checkpoint of another “Ahrar Al-Sharqiya” militia in the village and asked him for money to allow him to pass. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said that “the dispute developed into firing on the militant of al-Jabha al-Shamiya militia, from the town of Madaya in the countryside of Damascus, which led to him being seriously injured and died the next day.” The clashes continued, simultaneously with a security alert and a curfew.
It is noteworthy that the name of the village of Baflun does not appear in the news of the violations, like the rest of the villages of Afrin, and the reason is that the village is empty of its original Kurdish people
