Afrinpost
On April 21st, the Political Bureau of the Kurdish Progressive Democratic Party in Syria issued a statement condemning the crimes and the policies of Turkification and Arabization of the people of the occupied Kurdish Afrin region, by the Turkish occupation and the armed militias of the Muslim Brotherhood, which calls themselves the “Syrian National Army” ”
The media office of the Progressive Party stated that “after more than two years since the Turkish occupation with the mercenary factions (the Syrian opposition) of Afrin region, the attacks continue against the Kurdish citizens with looting, in addition to kidnapping and imposing huge royalties on them with the aim of pushing them to leave their villages and cities and to bring about demographic change in Afrin. ”
And the office added: “On 4/4/2020, one of the mercenary factions of the Turkish occupation killed the Kurdish elderly” Fatima Ibrahim Kanah / 80 / years ”from the village of Hikijah in Afrin region by suffocation for the purpose of theft, and this crime comes as a complement to the previous crimes committed by the mercenaries against our people in Afrin. ”
Continuing: “We in the Kurdish Progressive Democratic Party in Syria condemn these crimes committed against our people in the Afrin region, and we condemn the policies of Arabization and Turkification practiced by the Turkish state in the region, and we demand the international community and human rights bodies and organizations to assume their full responsibilities, by pressing Turkey to end Its occupation of the region, and providing the necessary protection for the return of our Kurdish people to their original areas of residence and stopping the forced displacement of the people of the region.
In a related context, the Kurdish Democratic Unity Party in Syria (Yekiti) had issued on the twenty-third of last March, a statement in which it revealed the continued suffering of the Afrin region under Turkish occupation, the demographic change of the region that accompanied the displacement of the Kurds, the indigenous population, and the settlement of hundreds of thousands of members of families of militants from Ghouta, rural Homs, Hama, Idlib, and Aleppo, and the percentage of the Kurdish presence decreases from 95% to below 20% today.
The party’s statement stated that there are 103 civilian victims and martyrs who died in the Afrin region, who lost their lives under the occupation (March 18, 2018, and until March 17, 2020), including 15 children and 11 women, who were killed or died in different circumstances. , under torture or by live bullets, some of them by explosions and landmines, or by executing, or while crossing into Turkey, or by bombing the areas of displacement of migrants in Afrin (villages and towns of Shahba and Sherawa- north of Aleppo), and those who died by landmines exploding in the areas of displacement, or under psychological pressure and harsh living conditions resulting from the occupation and its consequences.
The Kurdish Unity Party said at the time, “The crimes committed against civilians call for condemnation and condemnation from all parties that declare their commitment to human rights principles, conducting independent and impartial investigations, revealing those responsible and their implementers, punishing them morally and financially, and compensating the victims’ families morally and financially, as the Turkish occupation authorities and the loyal terrorist militias to it, most violations and crimes are recorded against an unknown person or have taken formative measures, as criminals escape punishment, and the people are constantly intimidated to push them towards forced migration.
The office added, “The Ankara government bears full responsibility for what is happening in the region and the right of its people, as a state of military occupation and with effective control, as it does not take practical, legal and security measures to protect the lives of civilians, but rather covers the actions of its army and mercenaries from the militia, protects them and encourages them to hostility to the Kurds wherever they are, thus committing grave breaches of international humanitarian law, the Charter of the United Nations and international agreements. “
Concluded by saying: “The people of Afrin are appealing to the United Nations institutions, the International Security Council and the international forces active on the Syrian scene and human rights and civil organizations and the various media, to play their role in ending violations and crimes and assisting the forcibly displaced to return to their homes and receive their property safely, and to work seriously to end the Turkish occupation and defeat the extremist terrorist militias, so that Afrin will return to Syrian sovereignty and manage its people.
