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Pro-Turkish forces detained 18 people in northern Syria’s Afrin region following protests against efforts at normalization with Damascus, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR).
The detentions took place at the Kafr Jannah checkpoint in the Aleppo countryside after protesters, who had joined a demonstration earlier in the day, were on their way home, SOHR said. The demonstrators had gathered to express their opposition to the Turkish-backed normalization with the Syrian regime and to demand the restoration of military decision-making to local anti-regime forces.
The protest in Afrin is the latest in a series of demonstrations in Turkish-held regions, where residents have voiced their rejection of Ankara’s role in dictating the direction of the revolution against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
Demonstrators have called for an end to Turkish oversight and the reopening of military fronts against Assad’s forces.
Protests against the normalization of relations between Ankara and Damascus have continued across northern Syria. Demonstrators in areas such as Al-Bab have demanded the release of the 18 detained protesters and an end to the Turkish control of their regions.
The protests have escalated following Turkey’s recent talks with Russia about opening trade routes with Syria. Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan recently confirmed that discussions are ongoing between Ankara and Damascus, with the possibility of a future meeting between Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Assad, though no date has been set.
Protesters view these efforts at normalization as a betrayal of their revolution and have vowed to continue their resistance against any rapprochement with the Assad regime.
Erdoğan supported early rebel efforts to topple Assad after civil war broke out in the country in 2011 but reversed course in recent years.
Since 2022 top Syrian and Turkish officials have met for Russia-mediated talks, with Moscow pushing for a detente.
Turkish troops and Turkey-backed rebel factions control swaths of northern Syria, and Ankara has launched successive cross-border offensives since 2016, mainly to clear the area of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF).
Turkey sees the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG), which dominate the SDF, as an offshoot of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), considered a terrorist organization by Turkey and its Western allies.
In July Erdoğan said he might invite Assad to Turkey “at any moment,” in a sign of reconciliation.
Assad said later that month he was open to meeting Erdoğan but it depended on the encounter’s “content,” noting Turkey’s presence in Syria was a key sticking point.
Syria’s war began after the suppression of anti-government protests in 2011 and has killed more than 500,000 people and displaced millions.
Turkey hosts some 3.2 million Syrian refugees out of a population of 85 million, according to United Nations data.
Their future regularly comes up in Turkish political debate, with some opponents of Erdoğan promising to send them back to Syria.