Displaced Syrian Kurds recount their woes after Turkish invasion

Tens of thousands who have ended up in IDP camps following the Turkish assault, see no hope of ever going back home.

When morning sun broke through the old city of Ras Al Ayn on October 9, it felt like every other day in this old city in northeastern Syria, on the border with Turkey. Khalil Berkali opened his falafel shop and spread out the piping hot snacks for his customers.
The previous night he had heard movements of military vehicles across the border that is hardly 200 metres from his house. Berkali had tucked the dreadful thought to the back of his mind. But by afternoon, his worst fears were coming true. The air was thick with rumours of a looming Turkish attack, causing panic. People had begun plotting escape.
"By 4pm, Turkish fighter jets were hovering over our heads. We knew they were coming for us," Berkali told Khaleej Times from an IDP (Internally Displaced People) camp in Hasakah in the far northeastern corner of Syria.
Within hours, Berkali, his wife, and six children were sitting huddled in a car, clutching what little they could take with them.
Even more than three months after the harrowing escape, Berkali vividly remembers the horror and fear his family endured.
"In half an hour, a mass exodus had begun and the whole city was on the streets. People and cars were cramming the highway towards Tal Tamir. It was like a scene straight out of hell with bombings and explosions everywhere. Women and children were screaming."
Thunderous explosions ripped through the city as Turkey started an all-out ground offensive on Kurdish towns along a 150-mile path along the border.
More than 300,000 Syrians fled the Turkish offensive in the first month, mainly from the towns of Ras Al Ayna and Tal Abyad, according to the UN.
Bolt from the blue
The sudden US withdrawal from Syria in early October 2019 gave Ankara the green light to launch the cross-border military offensive, claiming it wants to clear a terror corridor along its Syrian Kurdish border.
Turkey claims the YPG-controlled Kurdish areas on its borders are a national security threat and had long vowed to purge them. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan wants to build a safe zone along the Syrian-Turkish border, where it can push its 2.5 million Syrian refugees.
But for the thousands of Syrian Kurds who were forced to flee their hometowns, US President Donald Trump's 'backstabbing' of his Kurdish allies meant losing their homes forever. The abandoning of America's key allies in the war against Daesh was as much a rude shock to the rest of world as it was for the Kurds.
"Turkey always wanted to attack us. They have done it in the past. But we were confident that as long as the US military is in Northern Syria, Erdogan won't move a little finger against us," said Berkali.
"It took them just two days to attack us after the Americans pulled out from their military base in Tal Argham. For us, life will never be back to normal. We will never be able to live in dignity."
Fresh humanitarian crisis
Although Turkey has repeatedly claimed that they are not attacking Kurds but only their 'terrorist outfits,' the plight of hundreds of civilians who were injured and thousands more displaced tell a different story.
Midya Bakri, another resident of Ras Al Ayn, said she was heavily pregnant when the Turkish bombs pummelled her hometown. "I was nine months and due in two weeks. When the attacks happened, the only choice in front of us was to either flee or die," Bakri told Khaleej Times.
Her husband Ibrahim Khader said they could escape only because their relatives accommodated them in their vehicle. "Many people had walked hundreds of kilometres on the highway to reach safe zones. With Midya's condition, it was unthinkable."
The frail-looking mother of two children - aged four and two - delivered a baby girl on the floor of a school classroom in Hasakah within two weeks of arriving in the IDP camp.
"We named her Ewa, which means 'good life.' My only wish is she will have a good life away from all this conflict and violence."
No back home
Tens of thousands who have ended up in IDP camps following the Turkish assault, see no hope of ever going back home.
Yazer, a 36-year old farmer, says he has lost everything he ever possessed. "There is only rubble where my house stood. My relatives who stayed back said everything has been looted. My farm was set to fire. What is there to go back to?" asked the father of four.
Yazer and his family have been sleeping in make-shift shelters and classrooms ever since they arrived in Hasakah in October.
"Even if we go back, there is no guarantee for our lives. The Turkish-led militias will not spare us. I have been hearing horror stories from my friends and relatives who are still in Ras Al Ayn," said Yazer.
He said his cousin who wound his way back to Ras Al Ayn came back to Hasakah because he saw fighters looting Kurdish homes and abusing residents.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights has accused Turkish-backed militias of human rights abuses in the areas they conquered.
Amnesty International in their report on the latest conflict in Northeastern Syria claim that Turkish-backed Syrain armed groups have carried out war crimes including summary killings and unlawful attacks in Northeastern Syria. 
"Everyone is turning a blind eye on us. Turkey wants to slaughter us. The US does not care. The UN is unable to intervene and save Kurdish lives. We have no hope for tomorrow," says a desperate Yazer, echoing the sentiments of most displaced families caught up in a complex sectarian and global conflict.
anjana@khaleejtimes.com

• MENA