Kurdish families who were displaced from northwest Syria in 2018 are now returning to their homes. This, however, has been a slow process.
In 2018, Turkey launched an offensive along with Syrian rebel groups into the Kurdish areas of Afrin. At the time, Ankara claimed that the Kurdish region was run by “terrorists.” Ankara had pushed several Syrian rebel groups to create the Syrian National Army, which is, in essence, a proxy force of Ankara.
After the invasion, roughly 150,000 Kurds were forced to flee. The Syrian rebel groups included extremists who were involved in human rights abuses, including the kidnappings of Kurdish civilians.
After the Assad regime fell in 2024, there were attempts to change things in Afrin. And, indeed, change began to take shape. Turkey became less concerned about alleged terrorists, and a new, Ankara-friendly government formed in Syria.
Although Damascus clashed with the US-backed Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces, there was still room for compromise. In March 2024, SDF leader Mazloum Abdi met with Syrian leader Ahmed al-Sharaa. Further clashes in January led to an agreement to integrate the SDF into the new Syrian security forces.
Now, with the agreement in place, more Kurds were able to return to Afrin. This has been a slow trickle over the past year.
Rudaw, a Kurdish media network, reported: “A convoy carrying 623 displaced families returned from the Kurdish town of Kobane in northern Syria to Afrin on Tuesday, a local official said.”
Several other groups have returned from Kurdish-held areas in recent months
The report added, “Several other groups have returned from Kurdish-held areas in recent months under the auspices of interim authorities in Damascus, but this marks the first group to return home from Kobane. Mohammed Mohammed, administrator of Kobane’s central district, told Rudaw on Tuesday that all Afrin families living in Kobane who had registered their names were scheduled to depart at 10 a.m.”
This is important for the Kurds. Afrin is a beautiful, mountainous area in northwest Syria. Turkey invaded it, in part, because the SDF had taken Manbij, and Turkey believed that the Syrian Kurds were seeking to unify their territory in eastern Syria with Afrin. The Kurds in Afrin, thus, paid the price for geopolitics.
In 2019, the US said that it would leave Syria and let Turkey invade areas near Serekaniye. Now, things have changed. Turkey is a member of NATO, and it was hard for Washington to ignore the pressure that Turkey presented.
The new government in Damascus is close to Turkey and wants to run Afrin. Now that Syria is no longer divided, civilians are able to return.
Turkey held talks with the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), and this has reduced Ankara’s concerns about terrorism as well.
Rudaw reported: “The families had been displaced multiple times over recent years. Many first fled Afrin in 2018, during a Turkish-backed offensive on the Kurdish city, which is located in northwest Syria. They were displaced again in 2024, following the fall of dictator Bashar al-Assad’s regime, and once more in January amid renewed clashes between Syria’s new army and Kurdish forces in northeast Syria (Rojava).”
The report also notes, “Rudaw understands that five previous convoys carrying more than 2,400 families had already returned to Afrin from the cities of Hasaka and Qamishli.”
Ilham Ahmad, co-chair of foreign relations for the Kurdish-led Democratic Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (DAANES), was involved in the process. The DAANES is the civilian component of the SDF.
Rudaw added, “In April, more than 800 Kurdish families returned to Afrin, according to Hawar News Agency (ANHA), which is affiliated with the Rojava authorities. The returns followed earlier convoys of 400 families and 200 families on March 9 and April 4, respectively.”