Witness tells mercenaries looting of his village during occupation

SHARVIN MUSTAFA – GANDI ALO/ AFRIN

In Afrin, there are many stories about robbery and violations against the residents of Afrin by the mercenaries. The citizen Mustafa Khalil Qasem from Qurna village in Bulbul district of Afrin canton, he is 65 years old and one of the people who had his share of these attacks.

"I was in the village with my friend. The Turkish warplanes carried out heavy raids on the eastern side of the village. It was a day full of bombardment, and neither the aircrafts nor the tanks stopped targeting the village," he said.

'They stole a sum of money and my private things'

Khalil said that "while we were trying to get out of the village, the mercenaries had occupied it, but we did not know that, and on the way I saw them immediately in front of me, they arrested me and searched my pockets for money, they stole10,000 lira I had, and my ID. "

'They would have killed me if I were not old'

"The mercenaries ordered me to go with them to the middle of the village and their leader was sitting there. They asked me whether I am Kurdish or not," he said. I replied that I am a Kurd. He ordered the mercenaries to kill me, but one of them stood up and said, let him leave, we will need him later, he is old. "

"After I reached the village, one of the mercenaries released my hands to try to escape and shoot me, but I walked normally, when they realized that I would not run away they arrested me again."

'They investigated about the presence of YPG fighters'

"They started asking me about the People and Women Protection Units, where they went and where their concentration points were. I claimed that I was a shepherd and I did not know anything like that. They brought me the picture of the three fighters, Fîdan Dogan, Leyla Şaylemez û Sakîne Cansiz," also I claimed that I do not know them, then they ripped the picture, he said. Then a mercenary came and ordered me to ride with him, but one of the mercenaries intervened and asked him why he was demanding me. He said, "We will take him to Abu Hassan to investigate with him, but they asked him to leave me alone."

'I spent a cold night without blankets'

"When the night came, they took me to a house where they had arrested an elderly man and woman. When the mercenaries noticed the ring in my hands, they stole it from me," Khalil explained. "At home they began to investigate with the old woman and asked her about her son. She said he is with the Asayish Forces, they asked her about the place of YPG, YPJ fighters, she responded that they are in the mountains, the old woman do not know what is happening around her and then they left us, in the evening we felt severe cold, they left without giving us any blankets to warm ourselves.

'The fighters liberated the village, but the mercenaries had looted all the houses'

Khalil added "By the dawn of the following day, fighters of YPG, YPJ had liberated the village from the mercenaries, but the mercenaries had looted and stole all the houses and left nothing there. The mercenaries would take me as a hostage, but I could not walk away, so they fled, within 24 hours of occupying the village, they stole everything in the village.

H/S

ANHA