Shahba- The International Dialogue Forum has kicked off in the Berxwedan camp located in the Fafin district of Shahba province with the motto, “Afrin is between Turkish occupation and international interests”. Some of the participants of the forum are Ebdulkerîm Saroxan, chairperson of the Democratic Islamic Congress Administration and Organization Bureau, Arîv Nersîs Kassabian, a board member of the Armenian Community Council in Hasakah, Dr. Azad Elî, the editor-in-chief of the El-Hîwar Magazine, Hisên Ezam, member of the co-presidency committee of the Syrian Democratic Council (Meclîsa Sûriya Demokratîk-MSD), the representatives of Afrin Region Democratic Autonomous Administration, Kongra Star, the Syrian Democratic Council, the Afrin Canton Council, Shahba Canton Council, the Union of Yazidis and other NGOs.

Strategic methods against the occupation will be discussed

Mihemed Remedan, the deputy co-chair of the Afrin Canton Council, made the opening speech of the forum. Mazloum Abdi, the commander-in-chief of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), is also expected to attend the forum via Zoom. The first session of the forum has been held with the motto, “Political effects of the Afrin occupation”. During the first session, the political effects of the Afrin occupation, war crimes and rights violations against the people of Afrin, and strategic methods against the occupation will be discussed.

The forum is expected to be attended by David L. Phillips, the director of the Program on Peace-building and Rights at Columbia University's Institute for the Study of Human Rights, Raeda Al-Dhahabani, the Ambassador for Peace in Yemen, Rami Abdulrahman, the director of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), MSD Co-chair Îlham Ehmed, Mukhtar Ghobashi, the deputy president of the Arab Center for Research and Policy Studies, Megan Yudth, the director of Peace Research at the Kurdish Institute for Peace – America, Dr. Amin Aqil, the President of the Maat Foundation for Peace, Development and Human Rights in Egypt and Dr. Thoreau Redcrow, the Analyst and Researcher on International Conflicts- Amerika.