US website: Looting Afrin olives, armed robbery under Turkey's tutelage

NEWS DESK

On the American Monitor site, the writer Fahim Tastkin noted that the United Nations had drawn attention to numerous reports that the mercenaries supported by Turkey carried out looting, armed murder, robbery, kidnapping and torture operations.

He asserts that some of that criminal activity were mentioned in the report of the Human Rights Council of the United Nations General Assembly in September.

The report notes that many eyewitnesses say that the crimes are committed in front of the Turkish soldiers, but they do not intervene.

The writer affirms that the persecution extends to the olive groves in the region which was the subject of discussion in the Turkish parliament on 16 November.

According to official records, a deputy from the Republican People's Party (CHP) said they had learned that about 50,000 tons of olive oil had been smuggled from Afrin to Turkey.

 Nour ed-Din Magin, the representative of the Democratic Peoples Party (HDP) said that the mercenaries had transported more than 50,000 tons of olive oil to Turkey, and even burned and destroyed olive groves in Afrin.

Magin said, "Turkey must abandon the policies of looting and pillage,"

Tastkin says that it is strange that the Agriculture Minister Bakr Pakdemarelli responded, "As a government, we do not want the PKK to make money of olives." While Pakdemarelli's statement indicates that the AKP is aware of what the mercenaries practice against olive groves.

The report notes that Turkey, which has no diplomatic relations with the Syrian regime, opened a border crossing on November 8, which was named the "Olive Branch" crossing near the village of Hammam in Janders district. All agricultural products are transported from Afrin through this crossing border to Turkey.

Cheleng Omar, an economist from Afrin, told the Monitor, "There are 18 million olive trees in Afrin, they cover 65% of the agricultural lands in Afrin."

Omar added, "The main income of the people in Afrin are olive, olive oil and soap," adding that the production in Afrin constitutes 30 percent of the total production in Syria. There are 2.5 million fruit trees too.

Omar confirmed that this year, 270 thousand tons of olives were harvested in Afrin.

Omar said that the market value of this production is $ 150 million, but Afrin producers this year lost about $ 100 million of that amount.

Omar listed the damage as follows:

The mercenary gangs burned or destroyed about 12,000 olive trees in Afrin.

The mercenaries prevent the farmers from selling their products to the Syrian traders who have always worked with them. The farmers are forced to sell their goods at prices set by the mercenary gangs to the intermediaries of the group's choice. Most of those mediators and traders are linked to the mercenaries.

The brokers are making a sharp turnaround in prices. For example, Omar says that the farmers must sell 16 kg (35 pound) vs $ 28, sometimes it reaches to $ 20."

"Before the occupation of Afrin, these cans were sold for $ 50 to $ 55. That means that the price has fallen by half," Omar says.

Omar confirms that the brokers who buy these products at low prices transfer them to Turkey. Some of these products are being re-imported into Syria through Bab al-Hawa and Bab al-Salam and they are sold at high prices in other cities.

According to the report, the so-called local council in Afrin, appointed by the Turks, impose 15% as a tax on agricultural products. Moreover, people must pay bribes to the mercenaries to reach the olive groves.

In short, the $ 100 million loss was the result of direct theft, bribery and extortion.

Omar listed other losses that were not included in the figure of $ 100 million, in addition to the confiscation and manipulated prices, many facilities were looted. The mercenary gangs dismantled 109 out of 295 olive presses in the area, each of with costs of $ 200,000.

According to the information provided by Omar, the mercenaries removed 17 to 44 of soap and olive heart, each with 8,000 tons of production capacity, and stole other presses and machines. These stolen goods cost $ 20 million.

He said that the mercenary gangs forced the farmers this summer to sell 10,000 tons of wheat at low prices, as the sale of one ton reached at $ 200, while the ton was sold at $ 500.

In a related context, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights in Britain stated last year that the mercenaries seized 75% of the olive groves in Afrin, renting some of them.

The mercenaries of the Syrian National Army, supported by Turkey, issued instructions to hand over the olive fields to the local councils appointed by Turkey.

According to the observatory, the mercenaries of "al-Sultan Murad" told the producers in Shera area that if they did not offer more than 30% of the olives they harvest, they would not be allowed to access to their fields.

Al-Hemzat mercenaries of Turkey seized the olive in the regions of Karishma and Alaka, and sold them.

The mercenaries of al-Sultan Sulaiman Shah did the same in the village of Kehira. Kurdish sources say that there are many other cases of the same nature.

The Syrian Observatory also confirms that the so-called local councils in other areas have informed the owners of olive presses to hand over 15% of their olive oil to the mercenaries.

The writer concludes his article by emphasizing that many mercenaries consider this practice a routine war spoils. The Turkish government allows these practices to eliminate the financial resources of the people of the region. The people of Afrin are being subjected to armed extortion and repression under the instruction of Turkey.

A.H

ANHA