afrinpost-Exclusive
Our correspondent reported that a member of the militia “Suleiman Shah/Al-Amshat,” known as “Abu Haydar,” who is responsible for guarding the Turkish PTT bank center, imposes a financial levy of 200 Turkish liras on each person who visits the bank at the beginning of each month to collect their salary. This affects employees of local councils, departments, organizations, and associations operating in the occupied city of Afrin.
Our correspondent clarified that the bank experiences severe congestion at the beginning of each month, and “Abu Haydar” exploits the crowds to extort employees and workers, imposing a fee of 200 Turkish liras in exchange for delivering their salaries. Additionally, for some associations like Bahar and Rahma Bla Hudud whose employees receive their salaries in dollars, “Abu Haydar” converts them to Turkish liras according to his own set exchange rate.
It is worth noting that the PTT bank center was opened in the old post office building in the Old Afrin neighborhood in November 2018. It is affiliated with the Turkish Post and Telegraph Directorate and is the only authorized center for distributing salaries to all employees of institutions under the Turkish authorities and the associations operating in Afrin.
