Afrin Dispatch
Notes and photographs from a recent trip to the region for Newroz
This is my second on-the-ground dispatch, following last month’s from Raqqah.
Last weekend I travelled to Aleppo’s Afrin district, spending approximately 24 hours there on the occasion of Newroz - the Kurdish (/Iranian/Central Asian) New Years holiday celebrated on March 21st. This was my first trip to Afrin, a region which I’ve worked extensively on from afar, covering various events and dynamics that transpired following its capture by the Turkish military and Syrian National Army in 2018.
This year marked the first time in Syrian history that Newroz was celebrated as an officially recognized national holiday, as per mid-January’s Presidential Decree no. 13. In Afrin the events held even more significance given the return of tens of thousands of the region’s formerly displaced residents over the course of the last year and particularly since January’s battles between the Syrian government and SDF and the subsequent integration agreement signed on January 29th.
As documented in Aymenn Jawad Al-Tamimi’s recent ‘Field Report from Afrin,’ notable improvements have occurred with regards to the the rights and public life of the region’s native Kurdish population, property restitution, and the security situation since the new Syrian government took over Afrin from the former Turkish-backed local administration last year. Despite these welcome developments issues to linger in Afrin, primarily relating to the continued (albeit diminished) presence of former SNA fighters in Afrin, as well as hostile elements within populations displaced from elsewhere in Syria. While my visit was brief and primarily centered around the Newroz festivities both the positives and negatives highlighted by al-Tamimi were visible.
The events I attended in person on both the eve of Newroz and the day itself were quite joyous as Afrinis unabashedly celebrated their Kurdish identity, largely without issue. Unfortunately the afternoon of the 21st was marred by acts of intimidation and mob violence targeting Kurds, particularly in the A‘zaz region on the outskirts of Afrin, following the circulation of a video showing a Kurdish man tearing down a Syrian flag at a Kobani Newroz event earlier that day. My return trip back to Aleppo that evening was partially rerouted by Internal Security Forces to avoid such, though we still witnessed minor incidents on the main highway.
All together these experiences underline the unprecedented and unsettled situation Kurds find themselves in as they negotiate their place within new Syria, with the ever present question of what role the al-Shar‘ government will play in arbitrating such in the face of pushback from segments of its constituency.
