Lelun Afrin
Ensuring that the violations experienced in the area are incorporated into transitional justice programs that guarantee accountability, redress, compensation, and non-recurrence.
Despite the major transformations Syria has undergone—including the fall of the Assad regime on 8 December 2024, the formation of the Transitional Government, and the return of nearly two million Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) to their homes and communities—tens of thousands of those forcibly displaced from Ras al-Ain/Serê Kaniyê, Tell Abyad/Girê Spî, and Afrin remain deprived of their right to return or to reclaim their property.
On 9 October 2019, Turkey, with the support of Turkish-backed factions of the Syrian National Army (SNA), launched the military “Peace Spring” Operation on areas of Ras al-Ain/Serê Kaniyê and Tell Abyad/Girê Spî, resulting in the occupation of the two regions and the displacement of more than 200,000 residents.
Over the past six years, systematic and widespread violations of International Human Rights Law (IHRL) and International Humanitarian Law (IHL), perpetrated by Turkish forces and Turkish-backed factions, have been documented. These violations include extrajudicial killings, field executions, arbitrary arrests, torture, and other forms of ill-treatment, as well as large-scale seizures of property belonging to indigenous inhabitants—including Kurds, Arabs, Armenians, Syriacs/Assyrians, Yazidis, Chechens, and others.
Tens of thousands of indigenous residents remain forcibly displaced, living in extremely difficult humanitarian conditions in camps and collective shelters that lack recognition and support from the United Nations.
Independent Syrian civil society organizations estimate that over 85% of Ras al-Ain/Serê Kaniyê’s population remains displaced; The Kurdish population has plummeted from around 75,000 to fewer than 50, while Armenians, Syriacs/Assyrians, and Yazidis are reduced to only a handful. In Tell Abyad/Girê Spî, only a few Kurdish families remain.
The humanitarian situation has further deteriorated due to the politicization of water resources. Since Turkey’s occupation of the area, water from Alouk Water Station, east of Ras al-Ain/Serê Kaniyê, has been deliberately and repeatedly cut off, depriving approximately 800,000 residents of al-Hasakah City and its surrounding countryside of safe drinking water and sanitation services—an egregious violation of their right to water.
Upon signing the 10 March Agreement between the Syrian Transitional Government and the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), Clause V enshrined a moral and political commitment to the return of all displaced persons to their homes and their protection by the Syrian state. Yet, seven months later, the absence of tangible progress regarding the displaced from Ras al-Ain/Serê Kaniyê and Tell Abyad/Girê Spî underscores the urgent need to prioritize a safe, dignified, and equitable return—irrespective of political bargaining or temporary security arrangements.
Accordingly, the undersigned Syrian organizations reaffirm their full solidarity with the displaced from Ras al-Ain/Serê Kaniyê and Tell Abyad/Girê Spî, as well as with all victims and displaced persons across Syria, and call upon the international community, the Syrian Transitional Government, the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES), the Turkish Government, and all relevant parties to:
The Signatory Organizations:
