Cansu Dikme
05 April 2018•Update: 05 April 2018
By Omer Koparan and Adham Kako
AFRIN, Syria/ANKARA
Residents of the recently liberated Syrian district of Afrin are making the most of freedom and enjoying the normalization of their daily lives.
“In every facet of life, our conditions were quite bad. No civilian here had the right to speak their minds,” Mohammed Hamza, a civilian living in Afrin, told Anadolu Agency.
“If you hadn’t adopted the ideology of the group, you were faced with the possibility of being remanded at any moment.”
Hamza also said the YPG/PKK terror group took away the people’s freedom and took captive anybody opposing them.
Also mentioning the high cost of living under the control of the terrorist group, Hamza said they imposed an extra tax on all goods.
On the forced mobilization of children in the region, he said they did not have the power to oppose the YPG/PKK.
“Those who were mobilized didn’t have the right to say ‘no’. Those who didn’t want to be recruited fled either to Turkey or Lebanon,” Hamza added.
Ali Sido, another civilian living in the center of Afrin, expressed his delight over the liberation of his town from the terrorists.
“Now, our lives have gone back to normal. Everything is fine. Our families are with us. There is nothing to fear,” he said.
Sido also called on the local community to return to their homes in Afrin.
On Jan. 20, Turkey launched Operation Olive Branch to clear terrorist groups from Afrin amid growing threats from the region.
On March 18, Turkish-backed troops liberated the town center of Afrin as part of Operation Olive Branch.
