Families of Uyghur Fighters in Kurdish Homes as Demographic Change Deepens

ERBIL (Kurdistan24) – Media activist and director of the Afrin Now Network, Bushkin Muhammad Ali, told Kurdistan24 that Uyghur fighters have been resettled with their families in abandoned homes belonging to forcibly displaced residents in the Kurdish-majority Afrin region of northwestern Syria (Western Kurdistan).

According to Muhammad Ali, members of the “Hamza Division” – recently integrated into the Syrian Interim Government’s Ministry of Defense under the new name “76th Division” – oversaw the relocation of the Uyghur families into three homes in Me’riskê (Maraseh al-Khatib), a village in Afrin’s countryside. He explained that the houses had been previously occupied by displaced people from the town of Menagh in northern Aleppo before they were vacated and handed over to the new arrivals.

The head of the Kurdish National Council’s (KNCS) local office in Afrin confirmed the resettlement to Kurdistan24, stating that three Uyghur families had indeed moved into the village.

In parallel with these resettlements, according to Reuters, the Syrian Ministry of Defense announced the establishment of a new military structure, the 84th Division of the Syrian Army, which will include both Syrian soldiers and approximately 3,500 foreign fighters, the majority of them Uyghurs from East Turkestan in China and other countries. As part of this process, these fighters have also been granted Syrian citizenship, a move presented by Damascus as a step toward integrating them into Syrian society.

The government’s plan stipulates that the newly naturalized fighters will be treated as ordinary citizens on the condition that they do not pose any threat outside the borders of the Syrian state, do not undermine Syrian civil society, adhere to national law and order, and refrain from forming independent organizations within the country.

The United States’ approval of this arrangement has provoked widespread controversy among Syrians. Washington had previously demanded the expulsion of these foreign fighters from Syria and strongly objected to some of them being granted military ranks in the Syrian army. The American shift in position, therefore, has fueled concerns that the incorporation of foreign militants into official structures may entrench instability rather than resolve it.

Afrin: A Symbol of Forced Demographic Change

Afrin, historically a Kurdish-majority region where Kurds made up nearly 95 percent of the population before 2018, has endured sweeping demographic transformations since Turkish-backed Syrian National Army (SNA) factions seized control in March 2018 during “Operation Olive Branch.”

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) has documented thousands of violations against local civilians by armed groups such as the Hamza Division and Sultan Suleiman Shah Brigade, both of which have now formally merged into Syria’s reorganized security structures. These violations include looting, arbitrary detention, torture, and systematic displacement, often designed to pressure Kurdish residents to abandon their homes.

SOHR estimates that more than 300,000 people were displaced from Afrin after 2018. Only around 25,000 have returned, leaving nearly 275,000 people still displaced across areas of northern Aleppo such as Tal Rifaat, Nubl, Zahra, Deir Jamal, and villages in Shahba, while others fled further to Aleppo city, Kobani, or areas controlled by the Democratic Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (DAANES).

Human rights groups stress that the scale of displacement and resettlement in Afrin constitutes a violation of international law. The Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (Articles 6, 7, and 8) defines forced displacement and demographic engineering carried out as part of a systematic campaign as war crimes and crimes against humanity.

Settlements Backed by Foreign Organizations

North Press reports note that around 38 settlement projects have been built in Afrin since 2018, sponsored by organizations from Turkey, Kuwait, Qatar, and Palestine. These projects include more than 1,000 housing units in districts such as Sharran, Sheikh Hadid, Jindires, Bulbul, and Rajo. Analysts argue these projects are designed not as humanitarian relief but as tools of demographic engineering aimed at replacing Kurdish residents with Arabs, Turkmen, and now Uyghur fighters and their families.

International Response: Sanctions and Criticism

The European Union (EU) recently lifted certain sanctions on Syrian state institutions to encourage reconstruction but imposed new restrictive measures against militia leaders accused of human rights abuses, particularly in Afrin. The EU sanctioned the Hamza Division, the Sultan Murad Division, and the Suleiman Shah Brigade, alongside commanders Mohammad Hussein al-Jassem (Abu Amsha) and Sayf Bulad Abu Bakr, both of whom were simultaneously promoted within the new Syrian army structure.

The United States has also sanctioned these groups. In August 2023, Washington placed Abu Amsha under the Global Magnitsky Act for leading forces accused of forced displacement, abductions, and sexual violence in Afrin. The U.S. Treasury further sanctioned the Hamza Division for running detention facilities where abductees were tortured and ransomed, with women reportedly subjected to sexual abuse.

Despite these measures, both Abu Amsha and Abu Bakr were promoted within Syria’s newly formed divisions, raising concerns that a culture of impunity is being entrenched rather than accountability ensured.

Turkey’s Dual Strategy

Rami Abdulrahman, director of the SOHR, told Kurdistan24 that “Turkey holds the key” to resolving Afrin’s crisis. He accused Ankara of pursuing a “two-faced strategy” – on one hand, mobilizing electronic networks to discredit the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), while on the other, holding dialogue with them under the banner of Syrian nation-building. “If they wanted to, they could enforce every agreement reached,” Abdulrahman said. “But they choose duplicity.”

The Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) reported in 2018 that the forced resettlement of non-Kurdish groups into Afrin homes may represent a deliberate attempt to permanently alter the region’s ethnic composition.

Local activists and displaced residents argue that the latest settlement of Uyghur families in Me’riskê is another chapter in a long-running campaign of demographic engineering that has already transformed Afrin’s social fabric.

“Every new settlement means fewer chances for the rightful owners to return,” a displaced resident told Kurdistan24. “This is not just displacement—it is the erasure of Afrin’s Kurdish identity.”