Afrinpost
The “Human Rights Organization in Afrin Province” revealed two years of statistics for violations of the Turkish occupation army and Islamic militias affiliated with the Muslim Brotherhood, in conjunction with the approach of the second annual tragedy to start the Turkish invasion against Afrin, where the organization issued a statement during a gathering of hundreds of Afrin refugees in Al-Shahba, on Thursday, 16 January , in Sardam camp.
The text of the statement reads: “A humanitarian catastrophe caused by the Turkish occupation of humans, trees, and stones in the Kurdish region of Afrin (Kurdagh) in the far northwest of Syria, which was in remarkable safety and stability, within the atmosphere of the general Syrian war, witnessing a natural development and progress in All fields are self-managed by local forces, despite the errors and negatives that accompanied them, as well as over seven years, Afrin sheltered nearly 300,000 displaced people from all Syrian regions. Afrin was not a threat to its surroundings, and its armed and security forces were always in self-defense, and they received nearly 50 hostile attacks between 2012-2017 from terrorist jihadist factions (ISIS – Al-Nusra) and some factions of what are called today The Syrian National Army and the Turkish Army, on the other hand, caused material damage, and victims were killed, martyrs and wounded. ”
Adding : “The YPG and YPJ also participated with international forces in combat operations against the terrorist organizations of Al-Nusra and ISIS, which were a serious threat to the region and the whole world.” And “The aggression against the Syrian city of Afrin was preceded by a massive media campaign from Turkey and its agents by promoting the speech of the Justice and Development Government based on a set of arguments and excuses such as (Kurds are separatists, infidels, and terrorists, and that Kurdish units pose a threat to their national security and others), and in the context of the Astana agreements, the Turkish army has intensified its military buildup and recruited about twenty thousand members of the factions of the so-called Free Army and launched a large-scale military operation called“ the olive branch ”, which began with an air campaign consisting of 72 warplanes, bombing more than 100 sites At four afternoon on January 20, 2018.
“War crimes were committed in terms of articles 6-7-8 / jof the Rome Statute of 1998 and crimes against humanity and genocide through systematic policies of repression, persecution, murder, kidnapping, and demographic change that rise to the level of ethnic cleansing of the population especially the Kurds, in light of a suspicious international silence, and for international and regional interests at the expense of the Syrian people.
The organization revealed a statistic of the violations committed by the Turkish occupation and the Islamic militias affiliated with the Muslim Brotherhood in the occupied Kurdish Afrin region in northern Syria, since the beginning of the occupation until now.
_Forced displacement: More than 300 thousand indigenous people have been displaced and the displacement is still continuing until now by restricting them by various means.
-Killing:
More than 543 civilians were killed, including 489 who were killed as a result of the Turkish bombing and its armed Syrian factions, and / 54 / died under torture, as well as their long-term criminal killing of the journalist Cecilia and her husband, / 50 / children, and / 50 / women, / 3 / Suicide cases among women as a result of bad psychological conditions that they were exposed to under occupation
-Wounding:
More than / 670 people were injured as a result of the Turkish shelling and the Syrian armed factions affiliated with them, about 300 of them were injured and bruised, and / 210 / women were wounded and injured.
-Rape:
/ 60 / women.
-Kidnapping:
More than 6000 civilians of both sexes have been kidnapped, and more than 3300 kidnapees, their fate is still unknown.
-Bombing:
More than 102 cases were documented,
artillery shelling and other heavy weapons on the whereabouts of civilians in the villages of Shahba and Shirawa during 2019, as a result of which the number of martyrs civilian reached 41 martyrs and 78 injured, most of them seriously, and physical disabilities including children and women. As a result of the inevitable bombing, hundreds of homes were demolished over the heads of their residents.
On 12/12/2019, the city of Tal Rifaat, inhabited by civilians from the displaced people of Afrin, was targeted with artillery shells by the Turkish army and the Syrian armed factions affiliated with it, which led to the commission of a horrific massacre, which killed 10 people, including children and more than 12 wounded. Their wounds vary between amputations and other wounds, and all children under the age of fifteen.
-Explosions: (mines and booby traps)
/198/ cases.
Trees: More than / 180 / thousand olive trees and forest trees were cut, and more than / 300 / ancient and rare trees were cut down for trading in firewood and 15 thousand trees of oak trees.
Burning more than11 thousand hectares out of 33 thousand hectares of the area designated for cultivation in Afrin, and burning more than 10 thousand olive trees and forest trees. In the Shirawa region alone, an area of 2180 dunums planted with agricultural crops was burned.
-Sabotage:
Destruction of / 64 / schools between partial and total destruction, depriving more than / 50 / thousand students of education, and converting some of them to military headquarters, prisons and investigation centers.
The destruction of more than / 10 / religious sites, in addition to razing and exhuming the graves of martyrs and civilians.
Destroying hundreds of houses completely and partially, turning some of them into prisons and detention centers, and seizing thousands of them, which belong to the forcibly displaced people of the city of Afrin.
Cliff, sabotage and looting / 17 / archaeological site in Afrin, which has been documented: (Nabi Hori /Sirus , Barad site , Marmaron site , Tel Ein Dara and others).
-Theft and looting:
/ 140 / olive presses out of / 300 / presses were seized while the rest of the presses are managed by the leaders of the armed factions and their owners to preserve them, in addition to looting more than / 70 / thousand tons of olive oil and selling it in the international markets, including (Spain) as a Turkish product For the season of 2018.
More than / 7 / castile soap factories were looted from out of / 17 / factories.
Turkmanisation Policies:
Building a cement wall (partition wall) in the villages of Maryamin and Julbul, passing by Kimar, as a prelude to separating Afrin from the Syrian map and annexing it to the Turkish state, and opening a commercial crossing through the town of Jenderes and Hammam village to link the Syrian city of Afrin to the Turkish state of Hatay to complete its old colonial scheme.
Imposing the Turkish language and Turkish educational curricula alongside the Arabic language, changing the names of schools, public squares and some villages, shattering the Kawa statue which symbolizes the history and civilization of the Kurds, imposing the wearing of the head covers on women, raising pictures of the Turkish president and Turkish flags on official circles, and opening religious institutes and centers in Mosques to teach strict religious thought, with the aim of changing the cultural identity of the region.
The organization continued: “Therefore, we appeal to international human rights and humanitarian organizations, especially the United Nations, the Human Rights Organization, UNICEF, and UNESCO, to carry out their moral and humanitarian duty, and to pressure the Turkish government to stop its attacks against all Syrian citizens in general, and Afrin in particular and press them to withdraw all its forces from Syrian lands, allowing the displaced to return to their homes, inviting human rights and humanitarian organizations and the media to enter Afrin, to document violations of the Turkish occupation and the factions loyal to it, transferring the image of what is happening on the ground to the world, and moving urgent cases against each of the Turkish head of state, Mr. Recep Tayyip Erdogan, and his defense minister, Hulusi Akar and commander The pillars of the Turkish army and the leaders of the Syrian coalition, and the so-called temporary government, and all those proven to be involved in committing these crimes, referring them to the International Criminal Court in accordance with the relevant international instruments, agreements and laws, and providing urgent humanitarian assistance to the people of Afrin after their arrival to their villages and rebuild what was destroyed by Turkish war machine, during its invasion and occupation of the area Afrin after the so-called operation “Olive Branch” in January, 2018 .
