As part of an official visit to the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES) the US Commissioner of the American International Committee for the Protection of Religious Freedom Nadine Maenza met with a delegation of the refugees from Ras al-Ayn (Serêkaniyê) on 12 January, ANHA reports.
During the meeting, the delegation presented Nadine Maenza with a 2-year detailed report on the crimes committed by Turkey in Ras al-Ayn. Nadine Maenza said she would bring it onto the agenda of the US Congress.
Turkey entered Afrin in 2018, and on 9 October 2019 also entered Ras al-Ayn (Serêkaniyê) and Tell Abyad (Girê Spî), the regions that were controlled by AANES previously and thousands of people left their homes after Turkey and its mercenaries took control of the region. According to data from the AANES 300,000 civilians were displaced from the two cities.
Serêkaniyê Committee for Migrants, represented by Enahîto Sîno, Ciwan Îso, Reyan Exder, Zehra Semo and Mihemed Xêr Ehmed attended the meeting.
Assessing the situation of migrants from Ras al-Ayn in the refugee camps, Committee Co-Chair Ciwan Îso noted that the number of migrants from Ras al-Ayn in the camps has reached 40,000 and that only 15 percent of the original population remains in Ras al-Ayn which is now occupied and controlled by Turkey.
Enahîto Sino, a member of the Serêkaniyê Committee for Migrants, said, “The number of Christians in Serêkaniyê has decreased since Serêkaniyê is now controlled by Turkish backed gangs. An elderly woman living in Serêkaniyê told me, ‘Tomorrow is our holiday and our churches are empty’.”
“We want to return to our land, we want the Turkish state to leave Syria completely,” Ciwan Îso said as while handed over the documents.
At the end of the meeting, the US Commissioner of the American International Committee for the Protection of Religious Freedom Nadine Maenza thanked the delegation for the visit and said she would handover the documents and photos to the US Commissioner for Religious Freedom and the US Congress.
