Kurdish artists in Syria mark third anniversary of Turkish occupation of Afrin

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) - Three years after Turkey’s occupation of the northern Syrian city of Afrin, Kurdish artists in the city of Qamishlo held an art exhibition on Wednesday to show the situation of the people of Afrin.

On March 18, 2018, Turkey and Turkish-backed rebels occupied the Kurdish enclave of Afrin, a region famous for its olive trees. The occupation has continued amid widespread accusations of war crimes, including ethnic cleansing, kidnapping for ransom, and gender-based violence.

The demographics of Afrin have been substantially altered by the occupation: Turkey resettled thousands of Arabs there who have been displaced from other areas of Syria by Bashar al-Assad’s regime, while thousands of Kurds remain displaced from their own homes in the region.

Additional reporting by Ekrem Salih in Qamishlo.

Editing by Joanne Stocker-Kelly