ERBIL, Kurdistan Region of Iraq – The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Council (SDC) on Wednesday called for guarantees to the “safe and dignified” return of IDPs to Afrin on the eighth anniversary of the city’s occupation by Turkey and its proxies in Syria.

Afrin, a Kurdish-majority city in northern Syria, was taken over in 2018 by Turkey and its proxies, leading to the displacement of around 300,000 native residents, “many of whom continue to face repeated displacement and the loss of basic necessities,” the Council said.

The SDC, the political wing of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), stressed that resolving the Afrin issue requires “ending the Turkish and allied military presence, returning the region to its original inhabitants, removing all traces of the occupation, and guaranteeing the safe and dignified return of the displaced.”

The body called for the reversal of demographic and administrative changes imposed on the city.

Earlier on March, the first batch of 400 displaced families returned to Afrin as a part of the January 29 ceasefire and integration agreement between the SDF and Damascus. The safe return of the displaced residents in Afrin and Sari Kani (Ras al-Ayn), is one of the key provisions of the agreement.

While the council dubbed the return of the families a “positive step,” it affirmed that the move “does not negate the need for a comprehensive solution guaranteeing the return of all original inhabitants to their homes and properties within a legal framework.”

Following the 2018 offensive, residents fled to Aleppo’s Sheikh Maqsoud and Ashrafiyeh neighborhoods, where they were once again subjected to hardship and displacement after attacks by factions affiliated with Damascus in early January, forcing them to relocate multiple times before reaching areas then held by the SDF.