Arabic to English Translation*
The General Security apparatus continues to conduct a population census in the region, most recently in the Jenderes district, through a process resembling security interrogations. This procedure involves the collection of detailed personal data for each family member, including areas of residence, places of return, occupations, and phone numbers of current residents, among other information.
At the same time, the economic committees in the sub-districts of Rajo and Sharran/Sharra have been reactivated. These committees have once again demanded that returnees this year provide proof of property ownership, and that agents acting on behalf of absent owners present official powers of attorney. This constitutes another attempt to identify properties for which ownership documentation is difficult to obtain—whether due to lost records, inheritance-related complications, owners living abroad who face obstacles in providing documents, or individuals who avoid approaching official institutions for security reasons—thereby facilitating renewed confiscation and creating pretexts for encroachment on private property.
Moreover, the Afrin region’s administration refrains from compelling armed groups loyal to Turkey, who possess varying degrees of power and influence, to vacate real estate and homes belonging to returning Kurdish citizens and to hand them back to their rightful owners.
All of this occurs within the context of the continued Turkish occupation of the region, alongside the hosting and support provided by Turkish intelligence to remnants of the militias known as the so-called “Syrian National Army.”
The following are facts about the current situation:
= Turkish Presence:
In response to a question raised by a member of parliament regarding the presence of the Turkish army in Afrin, during a session discussing the 2026 budget of the Ministry of National Defense in the Turkish Parliament held on 11 December 2025, Minister Yaşar Güler stated that “Turkish forces are operating in the Syrian region of Afrin to remove mines and seal tunnels as part of efforts to secure the area, and that these activities aim to create suitable conditions for the safe return of civilians.”
In reality, however, no engineering units are currently engaged in mine clearance operations. Such activities were limited from the outset, as most mines had either already been removed or detonated, and tunnel detection and destruction operations were completed within the first two years following the Turkish army’s takeover in March 2018. Meanwhile, the continued presence of the Turkish military and Turkish intelligence—through their offices and personnel, including Turkish officers and locally recruited Syrian agents—alongside the Turkish governor’s headquarters established in the former Serail building, which has been fortified with a four-meter-high concrete wall and barbed wire, constitutes a de facto occupation. This presence obstructs the Syrian government’s ability to exercise full and effective control over the region and poses a serious threat to the return of displaced civilians, particularly residents of five villages—Darwisho, Cheh, Sheikhurzeh, Jilbreh, and Basleh—which have been converted into Turkish military bases.
Furthermore, Güler did not present any vision or express any intention to withdraw from Afrin or northern Syria more broadly, nor to develop a redeployment plan in coordination with the government in Damascus that would guarantee the rights of Afrin’s residents, Syria’s sovereignty, and ist national interests.
= Died as a Martyr:
On 9 December 2025, the Autonomous Administration in the Sheikh Maqsoud neighborhood of Aleppo held a funeral procession for the body of citizen “Mohammad Sijam son of Mohammad Ali (his grandfather: Agha Eisho)—born in the town of Shiyeh / Sheikh al-Hadid in 1984”—recognizing him as a martyr. He passed away on 6 December 2025 after enduring a prolonged and severe struggle with multiple illnesses that resulted from the brutal torture he had suffered at the hands of members of the former “Joint Force” militias (al-Hamzat and al-Amshat).
He was abducted on 2 December 2024 from the city of Tel Rifaat in the northern Aleppo countryside during the military incursion into the area and the subsequent withdrawal of Kurdish forces and the displacement of Afrin’s residents. He was handed over to his family on 13 January 2025 at the military hospital in Afrin, suffering from severe burns, extracted teeth, amputated toes, extreme physical weakness, and symptoms of trauma including disorientation and memory impairment. Despite receiving medical treatment in Aleppo, his health continued to deteriorate until his death.
“Sijam” was not involved in any political, military, or activist activities, nor did he have any affiliation with the Autonomous Administration. He was an ordinary civilian living with his family under modest and impoverished conditions, displaced from his hometown following the Turkish occupation in March 2018.
= Assaults on Civilians:
– At dawn on Sunday, 16 November 2025, after armed individuals attempted to force open the door of an auto repair shop in the town of Maydanki with the intent of committing theft, they were surprised to find the owner, mechanic “Mahmoud Shukri Mohammad /53/ years old, ” and his son Mohammad, originally from the village of “Dumlyo” – Rajo. The assailants opened fire on them, wounding Mahmoud with gunshot injuries to both legs. He was transported to a hospital in Afrin to receive medical treatment, while the General Security forces failed to apprehend the perpetrators.
– On 26 November 2025, an armed group belonging to the former “Liwa’ al-Muntasir Billah” militia opened fire on citizen “Basheer Hamid Mohammad /63/ years old, ” the mukhtar (village head) of “Sariya / Sari Oshaghi” – Mobato/Ma’batli, while he was present with others in an olive grove at the “Kurti Khanzira” site. He sustained gunshot wounds to his thigh and abdomen and was transferred to a hospital in Afrin for treatment. The attackers were not arrested.
= The Kurdish Language:
Following widespread debate and criticism regarding the cancellation of Kurdish language classes in Afrin schools this year—classes that had been in place since 2019, albeit not taught in all schools or in the preparatory and secondary certificate grades—the Afrin Educational Complex reinstated Kurdish language instruction during the final week of the previous month for transition grades. This instruction was allocated two class periods per week, replacing French language classes due to the unavailability of qualified teaching staff. However, this reinstatement does not apply to the preparatory and secondary certificate grades, where passing the Turkish language, alongside English and the remaining curriculum subjects taught in Arabic, remains a requirement. Despite this step, there remains a shortage of qualified Kurdish language teachers and the absence of an officially approved, up-to-date Kurdish curriculum. Additionally, the Kurdish Language Department at the Afrin Teacher Training Institute—established in the previous academic year and currently enrolling approximately 60 second-year students—has been suspended.
= Thefts:
On 24 December 2025, an armed group intercepted a pickup truck near the junction of the town of Sharra/Sharran while it was en route to the city of Aleppo. The assailants forced the vehicle off the road into a nearby olive grove, compelled the driver “Mustafa Abdo Miskeileh, ” a resident of the town of Badino—to exit the vehicle at gunpoint, and proceeded to steal batteries belonging to Al-Ahram Company, owned by “Hussein Mohammed Mustafa” in the town. They also stole a sum of money and a mobile phone, with the total value of the stolen items estimated at more than USD 3,000, in addition to deliberately damaging the vehicle’s tires.
= Chsos and Lawlessness:
On the morning of Wednesday, 19 November 2025, as the citizen “Masoud Hussein Mammo, ” a resident of the village of “Sheikh” in the Rajo subdistrict, went to inspect his olive grove, he noticed a group of underage youths from among the settlers stealing olives. In an attempt to frighten them off and stop the theft, he fired a hunting rifle into the air. Shortly thereafter, the father of one of the youths arrived carrying a Kalashnikov assault rifle and threatened Masoud with death. The situation was eventually defused following the intervention of local residents, after which the General Security forces arrived in the village and a reconciliation was arranged between the two parties.
The continued Turkish occupation and the reluctance of the local administration to provide a safe and secure environment remain major obstacles to the return of Afrin’s displaced residents from camps and displacement areas, contrary to the provisions outlined in the 10 March 2025 agreement signed between President Ahmed al-Sharaa and General Mazloum Abdi, Commander of the Syrian Democratic Forces.
13.12.2025
Media Office-Afrin
Kurdish Democratic Unity Party in Syria
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Images:
– A command headquarters of the Turkish Army in Kafr Jannah – Afrin.
– Martyr Mohammed Ali Sijam.
– Injured: Mahmoud Shukri Mohammed.
– Injured: Basheer Hamid Mohammed.
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* Under the supervision of the European Organization of the Kurdish Democratic Unity Party in Syria.
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Afrin under occupation-332-13-12-2025-PDF