Demands for international committee to monitor Turkish occupation's violations against archaeological sites in Afrin

Since Turkey and its mercenaries occupied Afrin canton, the occupation has been seeking by various means to change the demography of Afrin canton and destroy its historical civilization.

In addition to the brutal practices of killing, theft and kidnapping against the people, the Turkish occupation and its mercenaries are working to sabotage, destroy and loot archaeological sites, with the aim of obliterating the Kurdish civilization in the canton.

The co-chair of the Directorate of Antiquities of Afrin Region, Hamid Nasser, spoke about the Turkish occupation policy of obliterating the Kurdish identity in Afrin and the continuous violations of archaeological sites.

Hamid Nasir said, "There are more than 80 archaeological mounds and 35 sites in Afrin canton, which bear witness to the region’s civilization, and we are working to document violations against the archaeological sites in the canton, since the occupation of Afrin by Turkey and its mercenaries, through videos and pictures, and until now it has been confirmed that the occupation and its mercenaries have sabotaged and tampered with more than 25 mounds and archaeological sites. "

Nasser added, "In the recent period, the occupation acted on tampering with the hill of Qibar village, which is located in the northeast of Afrin city, 5 km from the northern edge of the village of Qibar, using heavy machinery, which led to the destruction of between 55 and 60 percent of the hill and sabotaging of its content. ".

Nasser also referred to the sabotage of the Aindara hill, which was targeted for the first time by a raid by the Turkish occupation, which led to the destruction of 60 percent of it, and after the occupation of Afrin, the monuments of the hill were sabotaged and looted through heavy machinery and the historical black lion statue was stolen in the second stage, and in the third stage, they turned the archaeological hill into a military site for the occupation mercenaries.

Nasser also talked about the Autonomous Administration project for Afrin region to protect antiquities and excavation of archaeological sites, and about the excavation project that began for a period of six months in Tal Alibiskay in Rajo district, where a church and many historical archaeological paintings were found, and in the recent period, it was confirmed through videos and images they obtained that the occupation and its mercenaries tampered with the project and stole its content.

 At the end of his speech, Nasser appealed to the UNESCO and the specialized international organizations to form a committee to enter Afrin and monitor the violations of the Turkish occupation against the archaeological areas and sites.

J.O

ANHA