Diminished by drought, the olive harvest is underway in Syria’s Kurdish-majority Afrin. Residents report fewer violations than in years past, but remain wary of the new authorities.
Long-suppressed by the Assad regime, the Kurdish language underwent an educational and cultural revival in Syria over the past decade. In the new Syria, its speakers refuse to lose ground and are fighting for recognition.
Returns to Afrin increased following agreements between the SDF and Damascus, with some villages seeing more than 80 percent of their displaced Kurdish residents return. Others are waiting for an organized return with security guarantees.
An SDF-Damascus agreement is underway in Aleppo’s Kurdish neighborhoods, which could serve as a proving ground for the success of a broader agreement in northern Syria.
Little has changed for Afrin’s Kurds, despite Damascus’ security forces entering on February 7. Violations persist, with returnees finding fighters or civilians occupying their homes and demanding hundreds of dollars to leave.
Since Turkish-backed factions took control of northern Aleppo at the start of December, more than 70,000 displaced people have returned to Afrin and its countryside, while others fled to northeastern Syria fearing abuses.
The Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES) estimates 120,000 people have been displaced from areas of northern Aleppo captured by Turkish-backed opposition factions this week.
People in Afrin remember the forest around Maydanki Lake for what it once was: a natural haven, the setting of summer days spent under rustling branches. Now devastated by years of illegal tree cutting by Turkish-backed factions, what hope is there for its future?
People displaced from Afrin to Aleppo city’s Sheikh Maqsoud and Ashrafieh neighborhoods bury their loved ones in wooden coffins rather than traditional shrouds, hoping to bring them home one day, even after death.
While Ankara condemns anti-refugee riots and makes arrests in the wake of “the most violent wave of hatred” to date, Syrians in Turkey say the attacks indirectly serve the government’s goal of refugee returns as it signals normalization with Assad.
