afrinpost
The Turkish occupation authorities continue to destroy archaeological sites and monuments in the occupied Afrin region within the framework of the cultural genocide policy to erase the cultural and historical identity of the Kurdish region.
In the context, the Directorate of Antiquities in Afrin canton, which is based in al-Shahba areas, published a report in which it stated that the Turkish occupation authorities had, in previous times, bulldozed and destroyed the archaeological “Shurba” hill, causing the uprooting of old olive trees planted on the hillside.
Hill site
Shurba hill is located in the north of Afrin, about 20 km away, and the hill is linked administratively to the village of Gamruk and Semalka, as it is about 700 meters from the village of Gamruk, the north of it.
According to the Directorate, the archaeological hill was subjected to sabotage excavations with heavy machinery after the Turkish occupation of Afrin canton during the end of the second half of 2019, with the help of photographs taken on December 12, 2019, and it was confirmed by resorting to satellite images dating back to the 28th of the same month.
The satellite image shows that the Turkish occupation carried out huge excavations over the entire area of the high hill, the destruction of the layers and their burials, in addition to the uprooting of many old olive trees on the northern and northwestern slope of the hill and the extension of the excavations towards the largely low-lying city over large areas estimated at 2 hectares 20000 square meters, while the area affected by these sabotage excavations on the high hill is estimated at about (7000) square meters, according to the area surveyor on the Google Earth program.
