RÛBARÎN BEKIR

Shahba- The people of Afrin, who settled in IDPs camps in Afrin/Shahba Canton of North and East Syria after being displaced by the Turkish attacks on Afrin, believe that they will return to their homeland one day.

 Five camps were built in Shahba after the people of Afrin were forcibly displaced from their homeland by the Turkish forces and Turkish-backed factions in 2018. Serdem camp, one of these camps, hosts 992 families of Afrin in 992 tents; Berxwedan camp hosts 750 families in 765 tents; Return camp hosts 142 families in 174 tents, Shahba camp hosts 90 families in 90 tents and Afrin camp hosts 124 families in 133 tents.

Despite the difficult living conditions in the camps, the displaced people of Afrin say they will struggle to return to their homeland.

 Hânîfe Muhammed, who has been living in Serdem camp for seven years, copes with the difficult living conditions in the camp by resisting in order to return to her homeland. Selva Batal is one of the displaced women of Afrin living in Berxwedan. She calls on international humanitarian organizations to “pay more attention to our situation caused by the Turkish state. What we experience today is a result of the Turkish occupation and the indifference of humanitarian organizations. They must take action to take the Turkish forces out of our homeland.”

‘We will resist despite the difficult living conditions’

“We have been living in exile for years, suffering from cold weather in winter and hot weather in summer,” said Fatma Osman, a displaced woman of Afrin living in the Return camp. “We will resist despite the difficult living conditions. We overcame the difficult living conditions in winter in the previous years by resisting and we will overcome these difficulties this year, too.”

The suffering of the displaced people of Afrin in IDPs camps has increased every year, especially in winter. “The people suffer from the difficult living conditions and the lack of health services,” said Dılîvan Muhammed Îbiş. “But we will endure all these difficulties to liberate Afrin.”

‘We will liberate Afrin’

İman Hasan Şahade has been displaced twice by the Turkish state. When her family was first displaced from the village of Nabl, they settled in Afrin, “However, we had to leave Afrin due to the Turkish attacks. Our life in Afrin was safe and peaceful. Now we live in this camp, struggling to liberate Afrin and return there.”

‘Bombardment continues’

The Turkish state constantly bombs the surrounding villages, she told NuJINHA. “The bombardment continues, doubling the suffering of the displaced people. The Shahba camp suffers from the ongoing bombardment because it is close to the villages targeted by the Turkish bombardment, injuring the people of the camp.”

 ‘Kurdish and Arab people resist by mobilizing’

Despite the ongoing Turkish attacks on the surrounding villages, Kurdish and Arab people unite. “The aim of the Turkish state is to cause discrimination among us. But we will resist by mobilizing.”

Hanım Qunber, a displaced woman of Afrin living in Afrin camp thinks that the aim of the Turkish attacks is to displace people again. “Although we face difficult living conditions, we will keep resisting. We will resist until we liberate Afrin.”