Afrinpost – Special
The forcibly displaced people of Afrin in al-Shahba canton today, Tuesday, organized a mass demonstration in which hundreds of Kurdish citizens participated and went to the Russian Reconciliation Center in the village of Al-Wahshiya, where today marks the passage of three years since the departure of the Russian forces from Kafarjaneh camp, as well as the Russian-Turkish agreement that took place in Moscow to allow the use of the air force in the aggression on Afrin. They demanded that the Russian Center play a more effective role as the international guarantor to end the Turkish occupation of Afrin.
The participants raised slogans affirming the rejection of the Russian-Turkish agreement to occupy Afrin and commit “war crimes and crimes against humanity” and presented to the Reconciliation Center a bouquet of black roses as an expression of their dissatisfaction with the Turkish occupation.
A delegation that included the representative of the notables and clans of Afrin, Haj Mustafa, the representative of the Democratic Autonomous Administration, Fatima Luktu, the representative of the Human Rights Organization Ibrahim Sheikho, the Russian General Alexander and members of the Syrian regime and met with the delegation.
The delegation of Afrin people confirmed that they are not enemies to anyone or any country, except that Turkey has crossed the Syrian borders and launched hostile attacks on the people of the region and committed crimes against humanity, and that the Russian withdrawal opened the largest scope for these attacks and imposed the occupation on the province. The delegation handed over a file on Turkey’s violations in Afrin during its attacks and after imposing its occupation on Afrin.
Then the Russian General Alexander spoke, stressing that there is no military solution to the Syrian crisis because it leads to the killing of more innocent people, and sitting at the negotiating table is the best solution to the issue and pointed out that the documents he received from the delegation of the people are very important and will help bring the criminals to the stage of justice, but this procedure will not be quick, but rather it needs time and measures to launch this process. The Russian general added, “Every day that the solution slows down, the lives of the displaced people in the tents in this region will become difficult, and this is what I understand very well.”
The Russian side promised to fulfill the demands of the people and its understanding of the nature of the harsh conditions in the winter and interruptions in the supply of fuel that affect people’s lives, and the issue is under resolution, but not as quickly as we would like.
After that, a statement was read on behalf of the people of Afrin and was read in the Kurdish language, by Berivan Khalil, the co-chair of the Training and Education Committee for Democratic Society, and in Arabic, by the joint vice president of Afrin County Council, Israfil Mustafa.
The statement mentioned that one of the direct results of the Russian-Turkish agreement is the aggression on Afrin canton, so that the Turkish state’s goal is to completely end the Kurdish presence as a people, culture, history and to implement demographic change in the region.
“It seems clear that human rights issues have become selective, as such issues are raised and their files are extracted only when they are in the interest of the major dominant countries, especially Russia. Turkey has become a rogue state against international law by not implementing international resolutions, foremost among which is Resolution No. (2254) Which provided for a ceasefire and a political settlement in Syria. The statement mentioned the Russian role in gathering and compiling the details of the crisis in northern Syria.
The statement concluded by saying, “If Russia is really serious about finding a permanent solution to the Syrian crisis, it must work to return the occupied areas to its original people, the first of which is Afrin, as well as abolishing the procedures for demographic change and the immediate start of sponsoring a serious and honest Syrian-Syrian national dialogue far from marginalization and procrastination, in which loyalty to the homeland is first.
