They dream of returning to Afrin and getting their olive trees back

Women, who had been forcibly displaced from Afrin to Aleppo, dream of returning to Afrin and getting their olive trees back one day. ”We had a communal life. We would give olives to the families who didn’t have olive groves.”

SARA ŞÊX HESEN

Aleppo- The region of Afrin is a very wealthy region with its rivers, springs, trees, forests, vineyards, natural parks, sacred places, factories, and natural resources. The people of Afrin make a living from agriculture. The city of Afrin is well known for its olives and it has millions of olive trees. You can see olives trees everywhere in the city. Kurdish people living in Afrin make a living by selling olives and olive oil. The local people also make olive oil soaps.

Olive oil of Afrin is known all around the world

Afrin olive oil is the most valuable olive oil in the world, according to chemical engineers. But Kurdish people face denial policy in producing olive oil due to war policies. Olives of Afrin are prevented from taking their place in the international market. Despite all obstruction and nationalist actions against olives, the olive oil of Afrin is known as Kurdish olive oil in the Middle East and all around the world.

People cannot harvest their olives

The people of Afrin haven’t harvested their olives for four years after the occupation of Afrin. Before the occupation of the city, the people of Afrin walked among the olive trees and picked olives by hand every year at this time. But now, they miss those days. Displaced women of Afrin spoke to our news agency about those days.

Two tins of olive oil from each sack

The people of Afrin think plating trees are sacred, Orziye Mihemed said, adding;

“We looked after them (olive trees) like our children. There have been olive trees in Syria since ancient times. They were planted by our grandparents and their grandparents. The trees in my olive grove are very old. When their roots got too big, I used to remove the dried roots so that the trees wouldn't die. I planted 120 olive trees before being forcibly displaced from Afrin.”

Orziye Mihemed told us that they used to place 50 kg of fresh olives in a big sack. “We produced two tins of olive oil from each sack. After picking the olives, we squeezed them to make olive oil.”

“There is difference between old and new technique”

Orziye Mihemed calls the place where olives are processed as “mekbaz”, “The old mekbaz (s) were better than the new ones. More oil was obtained than it is now with the old technique. Olives have had a special place in our lives since ancient times. We used to wash olives before taking them to mekbaz. But now, the olives are washed by machines. My father always told us to wash olives very well. Consuming olive oil is good for the human body in general.”

Orziye had 700 olive trees in Afrin, “I and my husband used to pick four sacks of olives a day. We used to take them home and then wash them. Olive oil lasts for a long time, and it has benefits.”

“We used to collectively pick olives”

Fatma Eli began to speak about the harvest time for olives;

“Olives were like my children. We would wake up early every morning to pick them. We went to the olive groves by donkeys because we didn’t have any vehicles. We would take our meal with us because we spent the whole day there. We would have lunch at 11 am under olive trees. We used to collectively pick olives. We would finish our work at 16.00 and return home. We were all helping each other. People helped those who had many olive trees. People living in Aleppo, Kobanî, and other cities came to help us. We used to give them olives for their efforts instead of money.”

People used to exchange goods

The harvest time for olives begins in October in Afrin. “Sometimes it would snow and we picked olives in snow. We used to give olives to those who did not have olives. Olive trees produce olives once in two years. Even in the year the olive trees did not produce olives, there were olives, but not more. We used to dance and sing songs while picking olives. We used to exchange goods; we gave olives and received other fruits such as grapes, pomegranates, etc.”

Longing for olive trees

Ewaş Qasim told us they had helped poor people in Afrin and given olives and olive oil to them. “We used to make a living by selling olive oil or if someone needed money, we used to give olives to them.” October is the harvest season for olives of Afrin and Ewaş Qasim feels so sad, “Because we used to walk among our olive trees at this time. We had nearly 500 olive trees. I wish what we have faced was a dream. But the invaders forced us to displace from our homeland.”

“We want to return to Afrin”

Ewaş Qasim wants to return to Afrin, “Olives are used in many medicines. We often gave our children olive oil when they had stomachaches. Olives are the cure for every disease. Now the invaders have deprived us of everything. We used to have breakfast, lunch, and dinner under olive trees. We were happy even if we had only bread and onion to eat because we were at home. Whenever I talk about the past, I want to cry. All I want is to return to Afrin. I want to die under olive trees. Our olives are our history. We will protect our history and not allow the enemies to destroy our history.”

Tomorrow: Olives are sent to world markets through Turkey