Afrin Canton ( ku, Kantona Efrînê, ar, مقاطعة عفرين, syc, ܦܠܩܐ ܕܥܦܪܝܢ, translit=Pelqā dha-ʻAfrin) was one of the cantons of
Rojava
The Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES), also known as Rojava, is a de facto autonomous region in northeastern Syria. It consists of self-governing Regions of North and East Syria, sub-regions in the areas of Afrin Region ...
.
Syria
Syria ( ar, سُورِيَا or سُورِيَة, translit=Sūriyā), officially the Syrian Arab Republic ( ar, الجمهورية العربية السورية, al-Jumhūrīyah al-ʻArabīyah as-Sūrīyah), is a Western Asian country loc ...
's
Afrin District
Afrin District ( ar, منطقة عفرين, manṭiqat Afrīn) is a district of Aleppo Governorate in northern Syria. The administrative centre is the city of Afrin. At the 2004 census, the district had a population of 172,095. Also available in ...
fell under the control of the
People's Protection Units
The People's Defense Units (YPG), (YPG) ; ar, وحدات حماية الشعب, Waḥdāt Ḥimāyat aš-Šaʽb) also called People's Protection Units, is a mainly-Kurdish militia in Syria and the primary component of the Syrian Democra ...
(YPG) around 2012 and an "Afrin Canton" (now
Afrin Region
Afrin Region ( ku, Herêma Efrînê, ar, إقليم عفرين, syc, ܦܢܝܬܐ ܕܥܦܪܝܢ, translit=Ponyotho d'Afrin) is the westernmost of the three original regions of the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria.
The region p ...
) was declared in 2014. Afrin Canton in its latest form was established in 2017, however, as part of the reorganisation of Rojava's subdivisions. With
Afrin as its administrative centre, the canton was part of the larger
Afrin Region
Afrin Region ( ku, Herêma Efrînê, ar, إقليم عفرين, syc, ܦܢܝܬܐ ܕܥܦܪܝܢ, translit=Ponyotho d'Afrin) is the westernmost of the three original regions of the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria.
The region p ...
. As a result of
Operation Olive Branch
Operation Olive Branch ( tr, Zeytin Dalı Harekâtı) was a cross-border military operation conducted by the Turkish Armed Forces and Syrian National Army (SNA) in the majority-Kurdish Afrin District of northwest Syria, against the People's Pro ...
in early 2018, Afrin Canton became part of the
Turkish occupation of northern Syria. The government of the Afrin Region now administers only the area around
Tell Rifaat
Tell Rifaat ( ar, تل رفعت, Tall Rifʿat, also spelled Tel Rifaat, Tel Rif'at or Tal Rifaat) (Kurdish: Arfêd/ ئارفێد) is a city in northern Aleppo Governorate, northwestern Syria. Located roughly north of Aleppo, the town is the admin ...
.
Demographics
The population of the Afrin Canton area was overwhelmingly ethnic
Kurdish
Kurdish may refer to:
*Kurds or Kurdish people
*Kurdish languages
*Kurdish alphabets
*Kurdistan, the land of the Kurdish people which includes:
**Southern Kurdistan
**Eastern Kurdistan
**Northern Kurdistan
**Western Kurdistan
See also
* Kurd (dis ...
, to the degree that the canton had been described as "homogeneously Kurdish".
The overall population of Afrin Canton, based on the 2004 Syrian census, was about 200,000.
Cities and towns with more than 10,000 inhabitants according to the 2004 Syrian census are
Afrin (36,562) and
Jindires (13,661).
Throughout the course of the
Syrian Civil War, Afrin Canton served as a safe haven for refugees of all ethnicities, fleeing violence and destruction from civil war factions, in particular the
Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant
An Islamic state is a State (polity), state that has a form of government based on sharia, Islamic law (sharia). As a term, it has been used to describe various historical Polity, polities and theories of governance in the Islamic world. As a t ...
(ISIL) and the diverse more or less
Islamist rebel groups of the
Syrian opposition
The Syrian opposition ( ar, المعارضة السورية ', ) is the political structure represented by the Syrian National Coalition and associated Syrian anti-Assad groups with certain territorial control as an alternative Syrian gover ...
. According to a June 2016 estimate from the International Middle East Peace Research Center, about 316,000 displaced Syrians of Kurdish,
Yazidi
Yazidis or Yezidis (; ku, ئێزیدی, translit=Êzidî) are a Kurmanji-speaking endogamous minority group who are indigenous to Kurdistan, a geographical region in Western Asia that includes parts of Iraq, Syria, Turkey and Iran. The majo ...
,
Arab
The Arabs (singular: Arab; singular ar, عَرَبِيٌّ, DIN 31635: , , plural ar, عَرَب, DIN 31635: , Arabic pronunciation: ), also known as the Arab people, are an ethnic group mainly inhabiting the Arab world in Western Asia, ...
and
Turkmen
Turkmen, Türkmen, Turkoman, or Turkman may refer to:
Peoples Historical ethnonym
* Turkoman (ethnonym), ethnonym used for the Oghuz Turks during the Middle Ages
Ethnic groups
* Turkmen in Anatolia and the Levant (Seljuk and Ottoman-Turkish desc ...
ethnicity lived in Afrin Canton at the time.
History
According to
René Dussaud
René Dussaud (; December 24, 1868 – March 17, 1958) was a French Orientalist, archaeologist, and epigrapher. Among his major works are studies on the religion of the Hittites, the Hurrians, the Phoenicians and the Syriacs. He became curator ...
, the area of
Kurd-Dagh
Kurd Mountain or Kurd Dagh ( ku, چیای کورمنج, Çiyayê Kurmênc; tr, Kürt Dağı, officially ; ar, جبل الأكراد) is a highland region in northwestern Syria and southeastern Turkey. It is located in the Aleppo Governorate of ...
and the plain near
Antioch
Antioch on the Orontes (; grc-gre, Ἀντιόχεια ἡ ἐπὶ Ὀρόντου, ''Antiókheia hē epì Oróntou'', Learned ; also Syrian Antioch) grc-koi, Ἀντιόχεια ἡ ἐπὶ Ὀρόντου; or Ἀντιόχεια ἡ ἐπ ...
were settled by Kurds since antiquity.
According to Kurdish scholar
Ismet Cheriff Vanly
Ismet Cheriff Vanly (21. November 19242011) was a Kurdish scholar and political activist.
Background and education
Ismet Cheriff Vanly was born in Syria, to Turkish parents, his father a Kurdish officer from Van.
He studied Law and Philosop ...
, there is reason to believe that Kurdish settlements in the
Kurd Mountains
Kurd Mountain or Kurd Dagh ( ku, چیای کورمنج, Çiyayê Kurmênc; tr, Kürt Dağı, officially ; ar, جبل الأكراد) is a highland region in northwestern Syria and southeastern Turkey. It is located in the Aleppo Governorate o ...
go back to the
Seleucid Empire
The Seleucid Empire (; grc, Βασιλεία τῶν Σελευκιδῶν, ''Basileía tōn Seleukidōn'') was a Greek state in West Asia that existed during the Hellenistic period from 312 BC to 63 BC. The Seleucid Empire was founded by the ...
, since those regions stood in the path to
Antioch
Antioch on the Orontes (; grc-gre, Ἀντιόχεια ἡ ἐπὶ Ὀρόντου, ''Antiókheia hē epì Oróntou'', Learned ; also Syrian Antioch) grc-koi, Ἀντιόχεια ἡ ἐπὶ Ὀρόντου; or Ἀντιόχεια ἡ ἐπ ...
; Kurds in the early periods served as mercenaries and mounted archers. In any case, the Kurd Mountains were already Kurdish-inhabited when the
Crusades
The Crusades were a series of religious wars initiated, supported, and sometimes directed by the Latin Church in the medieval period. The best known of these Crusades are those to the Holy Land in the period between 1095 and 1291 that were in ...
broke out at the end of the 11th century.
The area around Afrin developed as the center of a distinctive
Sufi
Sufism ( ar, ''aṣ-ṣūfiyya''), also known as Tasawwuf ( ''at-taṣawwuf''), is a mystic body of religious practice, found mainly within Sunni Islam but also within Shia Islam, which is characterized by a focus on Islamic spirituality, ...
"Kurdish Islam". In modern post-independence Syria, the Kurdish society of the canton was subject to heavy-handed
Arabization
Arabization or Arabisation ( ar, تعريب, ') describes both the process of growing Arab influence on non-Arab populations, causing a language shift by the latter's gradual adoption of the Arabic language and incorporation of Arab culture, aft ...
policies by the Damascus government.
In the course of the
Syrian civil war, Damascus government forces pulled back from the canton in spring 2012 to give way to the
People's Protection Units
The People's Defense Units (YPG), (YPG) ; ar, وحدات حماية الشعب, Waḥdāt Ḥimāyat aš-Šaʽb) also called People's Protection Units, is a mainly-Kurdish militia in Syria and the primary component of the Syrian Democra ...
(YPG) and autonomous self-government under the
Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria
The Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES), also known as Rojava, is a de facto autonomous region in northeastern Syria. It consists of self-governing sub-regions in the areas of Afrin, Jazira, Euphrates, Raqqa, Tabqa, M ...
, which was formally declared on 29 January 2014.
Until 2018, violence in Afrin was minor, involving artillery shelling by
Jabhat al-Nusra
Al-Nusra Front or Jabhat al-Nusra ( ar, جبهة النصرة لأهل الشام, Jabhat an-Nuṣrah li-Ahl ish-Sham lit. ''Front of the Supporters of the People of Syria/the Levant''), known as Jabhat Fatah al-Sham ( ar, جبهة فتح ال ...
as well as by
Turkey
Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...
.
![Turkish Army Captured Afrin 01](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/ec/Turkish_Army_Captured_Afrin_01.jpg)
Afrin Canton was captured by the
Turkish Land Forces
The Turkish Land Forces ( tr, Türk Kara Kuvvetleri), or Turkish Army (Turkish: ), is the main branch of the Turkish Armed Forces responsible for land-based military operations. The army was formed on November 8, 1920, after the collapse of the ...
and
Syrian National Army
The Syrian National Army (SNA) ( ar, الجيش الوطني السوري, al-Jayš al-Waṭanī as-Sūrī), previously the Free Syrian Army (FSA) and also known as the Turkish-backed Free Syrian Army (TFSA), is a coalition of armed Syrian oppo ...
(SNA) as result of the 2018
Afrin offensive
Afrin may refer to:
Places
* Afrin Canton, one of the cantons of the de facto autonomous Democratic Federation of Northern Syria
* Afrin District, a district of Aleppo Governorate in northern Syria. The administrative centre is the city of Afrin ...
. Tens of thousands of
Kurdish refugees
The problem of Kurdish refugees and displaced people arose in the 20th century in the Middle East, and continues today. The Kurds ( ku, کورد, Kurd), are an ethnic group in Western Asia, mostly inhabiting a region known as Kurdistan, which inclu ...
fled from Afrin City before its capture by the SNA in March 2018, and the YPG vowed to retake it. The YPG subsequently announced its intention to start a
guerrilla war
Guerrilla warfare is a form of irregular warfare in which small groups of combatants, such as paramilitary personnel, armed civilians, or irregulars, use military tactics including ambushes, sabotage, raids, petty warfare, hit-and-run tactic ...
in Afrin Canton, leading to the
SDF insurgency in Northern Aleppo
The SDF insurgency in Northern Aleppo refers to a campaign of armed attacks carried out by the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), following the expansion of the Turkish occupation of northern Syria after the early 2018 Operation Olive Branch carried ...
.
Economy
![Aleppo soap 01](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f7/Aleppo_soap_01.jpg)
A diverse agricultural production was at the heart of the Afrin Canton's economy, traditionally olives in particular, and more recently there was a focus on increasing wheat production. A well-known product from the area is
Aleppo soap
Aleppo soap (also known as savon d'Alep, laurel soap, Syrian soap, or ghar soap, the Arabic word "غَار", meaning 'laurel') is a handmade, hard bar soap associated with the city of Aleppo, Syria. Aleppo soap is classified as a Castile soap as ...
, a hard soap made from olive oil and lye, distinguished by the inclusion of laurel oil. While Afrin Canton has been the source of olive oil for Aleppo soap since antiquity, the destruction caused by the Syrian Civil War to other parts of
Aleppo governorate
Aleppo Governorate ( ar, محافظة حلب / ALA-LC: ''Muḥāfaẓat Ḥalab'' / ) is one of the fourteen governorates of Syria. It is the most populous governorate in Syria with a population of more than 4,867,000 (2011 Est.), almost 23% of the ...
increasingly made the entire production chains locate in Afrin Canton. At the height of the fighting for Aleppo, up to 50 percent of the city's industrial production was moved to Afrin Canton.
As of early 2016, two million pairs of jeans were produced per month and exported across Syria.
[ In January 2017, 400 textile industry workshops counted 17,000 employees, supplying the whole of Syria.
Afrin Canton was under a blockade imposed by neighbouring Turkey, which placed high burdens on international import and export. For example, transportation of Aleppo soap to ]international markets
Globalization, or globalisation (Commonwealth English; see spelling differences), is the process of interaction and integration among people, companies, and governments worldwide. The term ''globalization'' first appeared in the early 20t ...
, as far as possible at all, had at least four times the transportation cost as compared to pre-war years. In 2015 there were 32 tons of Aleppo soap produced and exported to other parts of Syria, but also to international markets.[
]
Tourism
Afrin District also served as a center for domestic tourism due to its beautiful landscapes. Syrians continued to travel to the region for recreational purposes after the formation of Afrin Region, and later Afrin Canton. The tourism was however somewhat constricted due to the YPG's tight control of the borders, and the war; local tourism mostly collapsed during the Turkish invasion of 2018.
Education
Like in the other Rojava cantons, primary education in the public schools is initially by mother tongue instruction either Kurdish or Arabic, with the aim of bilingualism
Multilingualism is the use of more than one language, either by an individual speaker or by a group of speakers. It is believed that multilingual speakers outnumber monolingual speakers in the world's population. More than half of all E ...
in Kurdish and Arabic in secondary schooling. Curricula are a topic of continuous debate between the canton' Boards of Education and the Syrian central government in Damascus
)), is an adjective which means "spacious".
, motto =
, image_flag = Flag of Damascus.svg
, image_seal = Emblem of Damascus.svg
, seal_type = Seal
, map_caption =
, ...
, which partly pays the teachers.
The federal, regional and local administrations in Rojava put much emphasis on promoting libraries and educational centers, to facilitate learning and social and artistic activities.
Afrin Canton had an institution of higher education, the University of Afrin Afrin University ( ku, Zanîngeha Efrînê) was an unrecognized university in the city of Afrin in northern Syria, when Afrin was a part of the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES). It was the second university to open in the A ...
, founded in 2015. After teaching three programs (Electromechanical Engineering, Kurdish Literature and Economy) in the first academic year, the second academic year with an increased 22 professors and 250 students has three additional programs (Human Medicine, Journalism and Agricultural Engineering). The university was closed after the Turkish invasion; its students were able to follow up on their studies at the Rojava University in Qamishli
Qamishli ( ar, ٱلْقَامِشْلِي, Al-Qāmišlī, ku, قامشلۆ, Qamişlo, syc, ܒܝܬ ܙܠܝ̈ܢ, Bēṯ Zālīn, lit=House of Reeds or syr, ܩܡܫܠܐ, translit=Qamishlo) .
See also
*Federalization of Syria
The federalization of Syria has been controversially proposed as a possible solution to end the Syrian Civil War. In the broadest sense, it means turning the centralized Syrian Arab Republic into a federal republic with autonomous subdivisions ...
*Rojava conflict
The Rojava conflict, also known as the Rojava Revolution, is a political upheaval and military conflict taking place in northern Syria, known among Kurds as Western Kurdistan or Rojava.
During the Syrian civil war that began in 2011, a Kurdish- ...
*Rojava
The Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES), also known as Rojava, is a de facto autonomous region in northeastern Syria. It consists of self-governing Regions of North and East Syria, sub-regions in the areas of Afrin Region ...
*Afrin Region
Afrin Region ( ku, Herêma Efrînê, ar, إقليم عفرين, syc, ܦܢܝܬܐ ܕܥܦܪܝܢ, translit=Ponyotho d'Afrin) is the westernmost of the three original regions of the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria.
The region p ...
*Jazira Region
The Jazira Region, formerly Jazira Canton, ( ku, Herêma Cizîrê, ar, إقليم الجزيرة, syr, ܦܢܝܬܐ ܕܓܙܪܬܐ, Ponyotho d'Gozarto), is the largest of the three original regions of the de facto Autonomous Administration of No ...
References
External links
Map of majority ethnicities in Syria
by Gulf2000 project of Columbia University
Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...
{{coord, 36.5280, N, 37.9540, E, source:wikidata, display=title
Afrin Region
Autonomous regions
Aleppo Governorate
States and territories established in 2016
2016 establishments in Syria
States and territories disestablished in 2018