Afrin, Syria

With the drawing of the Syria–Turkey border in 1923, Afrin became detached from Kilis Province and was part of French-administrated Syria (i.e. the State of Aleppo, State of Syria (1924–30), Syrian Republic (1930–58)) and was eventually incorporated in modern Syria at the state's formation in 1961.

The town of Afrin was founded as a market in the 19th century. In 1929, the number of permanent residents was 800, growing to 7,000 by 1968. The town was developed by France under the French mandate of Syria. The main square is Afrin bus station, and the old settlement area stretches northward on the slope of a hill, but more recently habitations have spread to the other side of the river and extend as far to the south-east as the neighboring village of Turandah.

Since the Turkish annexation of Hatay Province in 1939, the Afrin District is now almost surrounded by the Syria–Turkey border, apart from the border with the Azaz District to the east and a short border with the Mount Simeon District to the southeast.

There was an outbreak of civil unrest on 21 March 1986, during which three people were killed by Syrian police. In 1999, the arrest of Kurdish leader Abdullah Öcalan triggered renewed clashes between Kurdish protesters and the police.

A PYD checkpoint in Afrin (August 2012 photograph)

During the Syrian Civil War, Syrian government forces withdrew from the city in the summer of 2012. The Popular Protection Units (commonly known as YPG) took control of the city soon afterward.[9][10][11]

Afrin Canton as a de facto autonomous part was declared on 29 January 2014,[12][13] the town of Afrin being the administrative center.[14][15] The assembly elected Hêvî Îbrahîm Mustefa prime minister, who later appointed Remzi Şêxmus and Ebdil Hemid Mistefa to work as deputies.[16]

Between 2012 and 2018, the YPG, the official defence force of the canton, was criticized for recruiting child soldiers, committing arbitrary arrests and failing to address unsolved killings and disappearances. According to the reports, the YPG and Asayish were also accused of forcibly recruiting civilians, arresting political activists and displacing Arabs whose homes were later stolen and looted. Displaced Arabs accused the Kurdish security forces of imposing taxes and restrictions on the population in order to force them to leave and change the demography.[17][18][19][20][21][22]

On 20 January 2018, the Turkish Air Force bombed more than 100 targets in Afrin.[23] On 28 January 2018 Syria's antiquities department and the British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said that Turkish shelling had seriously damaged the ancient temple of Ain Dara at Afrin. Syria called for international pressure on Turkey “to prevent the targeting of archaeological and cultural sites”.[24][25] On 20 February 2018, a Syrian army convoy consisting of 50 vehicles had arrived in Afrin through the Ziyarat border crossing and were deployed to different areas. Five vehicles reached the center of the city of Afrin.[26]

A demonstration in Afrin in support of the Kurdish YPG against the Turkish invasion, 19 January 2018

SDF-controlled territory (green) and Turkish-occupied territory (red) in October 2019

On 18 March 2018, on the 58th day of Operation Olive Branch, the Syrian National Army and the Turkish Armed Forces captured Afrin from the YPG and the YPJ.[27] Shortly after its capture, SNA fighters looted parts of the city and destroyed numerous Kurdish symbols, including a statue of Kāve, as Turkish Army troops solidified control by raising Turkish flags and banners over the city.[28]

On 26 March 2018, Turkish state media outlet Anadolu Agency published video showing children in Afrin attending a school with a large photo of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan near the front door.[29] The video additionally shows children in Afrin waving Turkish flags and teachers instructing the students to chant pro-Erdogan slogans.

On 12 March 2018, the British newspaper Independent published a video where Turkish-backed fighters leading the Turkish attack on Afrin in northern Syria threatened to massacre the Kurdish population unless they convert to Islam espoused by Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant and al-Qaeda. The header the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, Rami Abdulrahman, confirmed the authenticity of the video and said that "international attention is entirely focused on Eastern Ghouta and nobody is talking about the potential slaughter of the Kurds and other minorities in Afrin".[30]

On 14 March 2018, Redur Xelil, the senior official of the Syrian Democratic Forces accused Turkey of settling Arab and Turkmen families in the villages captured by Turkish army.[31]

On 12 April 2018, a Turkish-backed interim council was elected in Afrin, consisting of 20 “elders from the city” – 11 Kurds, eight Arabs, and one Turkmen, Turkish state media reported.[32] The council is headed by a Kurd named Zuhair Haider who, in an interview with the state-run Anadolu Agency, expressed his gratitude to Turkey and vowed to “serve” the local citizens.[3] On 9 November 2018, Turkey's trade minister Ruhsar Pekcan announced the opening of a border gate with Afrin dubbed "Olive Branch" - after the operational name of the Turkish offensive that captured the city months before.[33]

In June 2018, the United Nations published a report stating that the security situation under Turkish-backed rebel control remains volatile. The OHCHR had received reports of lawlessness and rampant criminality, such as theft, harassment, cruel treatment and other abuse, and murders committed by several Turkish-backed armed groups, especially by the Sultan Murad and Hamza Divisions. The OCHR stated that civilians, particularly ethnic Kurds from Afrin, are being targeted for discrimination by the same Turkish-backed fighters.[34]

On 2 August 2018, Amnesty International reported that the Turkish forces were giving Syrian armed groups free rein to commit serious human rights abuses against civilians in the northern city of Afrin. The research had found the Turkish-backed fighters have involved in arbitrary detentions, torture, forced displacement, enforced disappearances, confiscation of property, and looting.[35]

On April 28, 2020, a bombing in Afrin killed 40 people, including 11 children. No group claimed responsibility. Turkey blamed the YPG for the attack. According to the head of the British-based Observatory for human rights in Syria, at least six pro-Turkish Syrian fighters were among those killed in the blast with a possibility of increase in the death toll.[36][37] At least 47 people were reported injured, according to Al Jazeera.[38] The explosion was believed to have been caused by the rigging of a fuel tanker with hand grenades, the governor of Hatay province of the neighboring Turkish border stated.[39] Many people, alongside those who got trapped in their cars were burnt to death as a result of the blast, Syrian activists disclosed.[40]