RIHA - Serêkaniyê Displaced Persons Committee official and lawyer Ciwan Îso said the returns offered hope, adding, “The safety of displaced people is the responsibility of the Damascus government and the security forces in the area concerned. The safety of the people will be the priority.”

 

Under the January 29 agreement between the SDF and the Syrian interim government, the return of people displaced from Serêkaniyê in 2019 to their homes has begun. The first convoy, carrying 412 families, set out yesterday from the village of Tiwênê in Hesekê and arrived in Serêkaniyê after seven years. The convoy consisted of families from the city of Serêkaniyê and its surrounding rural areas who had been staying at the Waşokanî Camp. Upon reaching Serêkaniyê, the first group came under attack by some groups.

 

In a statement by Mehmûd Xelîl, deputy commander of the Hesekê Internal Security Forces, it was said: “Many people involved in the incidents have been arrested. Search and investigation operations targeting other individuals involved are ongoing to ensure that they are held accountable under the applicable laws.”

 

Serêkaniyê Displaced Persons Committee official and lawyer Ciwan Îso commented on the returns. 

 

Îso recalled that 85 percent of residents of Serêkaniyê and the surrounding rural areas were displaced as a result of Turkey’s attacks in 2019.

 

‘150,000 PEOPLE WERE DISPLACED’

 

Îso said: “The attacks displaced 150,000 people. At the same time, the demographic composition of Serêkaniyê was changed. Numerous human rights violations took place. The people of Serêkaniyê who were forcibly displaced have been forced to live in camps in different locations for the past seven years.”

 

Îso said that the people of Serêkaniyê who were forcibly displaced faced severe hardships in the camps where they lived and added: “Despite all the difficulties they faced, they put up a strong resistance camps. When the decision was made to allow them to return, the people welcomed it with great joy.”

 

‘THE RETURNS HAVE GIVEN PEOPLE HOPE’

 

Speaking about the committee’s ongoing contacts, Îso said: “We are continuing our work to bring displacement to an end. Our aim is to ensure that our people can safely return to their homeland and take control of their own affairs. The first convoy set out yesterday, and we hope more will follow in the coming period. There is no clear information yet on when the other convoys will set out. But the departure of the first convoy has given our people great hope. It has given everyone hope that they can return home.”

 

PEOPLE’S SECURITY 

 

Îso stressed that the return of the people to their homeland had been agreed under the January 29 agreement signed between the SDF and the Syrian interim government. He continued: “This should have happened long ago. The steps taken yesterday are only the beginning. The safety of displaced people is the responsibility of the Damascus government and the security forces in the area concerned. The safety of the people will be the priority. Those brought into the area after 2019 as part of efforts to alter its demographic composition must also be relocated within a certain period of time, and the land must be returned to its rightful owners.”

 

MA / Ömer Akın