On the anniversary of the occupation of Afrin ... War crimes, Turkification policy, cultural genocide -3

In the last part of our dossier, which talks about the Turkish occupation of Afrin and the crimes it commits with its mercenaries there, we will address the destruction of schools and the teaching of Turkish in the remaining ones, as well as the opening of branches of its universities in it with direct orders from Erdogan as if it were Turkish land, in addition to the cultural annihilation of the region and the promotion of Turkish culture. In which.

'The systematic targeting of schools and the remainder of them are either prisons or military headquarters.'

Since the first day of its attacks on Afrin canton on January 20, 2018, Turkey has systematically targeted vital centers that provide services to citizens, as well as schools.

Turkish occupation's brutal attacks which lasted 58 days, 68 schools were completely destroyed of the 318 schools in Afrin canton, meanwhile, more than 60% of the schools were severely damaged in one way or another as a result of the deliberate bombing.

Despite Turkey's continued occupation of Afrin canton since March 18, 2018, the rest of the schools, and their status are no better than the destroyed schools, because they simply turned into either military headquarters or prisons where citizens are tortured in an attempt by the occupation to link the names of schools to crimes and tragedies.

In this context, the Human Rights Organization in Afrin confirmed that 64 of the schools were not destroyed, and that the Turkish occupation turned them into headquarters for the Turkish intelligence MIT and detention centers for torturing civilians, including: the conversion of Afrin Azhar School, Faisal Qaddour, the Vian Amara Institute, and the preparatory school in the Bulbul district into an intelligence headquarters. Turkish, and the conversion of the former secondary trade into the headquarters and detention of mercenaries of the military police.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights also revealed 20 prisons established by the Turkish occupation and its mercenaries in Afrin since the beginning of the occupation of the area, including schools.

According to the Observatory, the prisons are divided as follows: “al-Mawasalat Prison - al-Bara Prison - al-Karamah School Prison - al-Hikma Prison - Tranda Prison“ the most dangerous secret detention center and run by Turkish intelligence agents ”- Afrin Azhar Prison - al-Ittihad Al-Arabi School Prison - Ashrafieh Prison - al-Mahmoudiya Prison - Prison Villas Street - Amir Ghobari School Prison - al Basuta Prison - Khraibeh Prison - Kafr Jannah Prison - Shengilla Village Prison - Meidan Ikbis Prison - al Mahatta Prison, which is known to be one of the worst prisons - Goran Prison - Shia Prison - Qarmatlak Prison. "

In the context, the lawyer and activist, Gabriel Mustafa, confirmed that there is a systematic cultural genocide carried out by the Turkish occupation army and its mercenaries in the city of Afrin, and he added: “Since the occupation of Afrin, the Turkish occupation army and its factions have committed all kinds of crimes against the people of Afrin, including killing, kidnapping, rape and making demographic change and stealing antiquities and other crimes, and they committed cultural genocide against the people of Afrin, and they are still continuing to systematically commit this type of crime because cultural genocide is considered one of the most horrific crimes committed against humanity, as it is the deliberate and systematic destruction of the cultures of certain peoples at the expense of sovereignty other cultures. "

For his part, former Pentagon official Michael Rubin asserted that what Turkey is doing is a "land grab," adding: "Turkey wants to impose Turkification policy that region to the point where those areas cannot merge with Syria again.

Then, within two years, they will simply begin to argue that those areas should be part of Turkey. Turkish ethnic cleansing is only a first step towards the goal of final annexation.

Imposing the Turkish language'

As for schools that Turkey allowed settlers to send their children to, Turkish flags and pictures of Erdogan and Ataturk are raised, and Turkish language is taught in them.

In a more dangerous step, Ankara opened universities and institutes in the areas it occupies, according to a decision from the Ministry of Education, and with Turkish curricula, as part of the Turkification policy and setting the first building blocks to separate these areas from the homeland, Syria.

Under the supervision of the Ministry of Education and Gaziantep University, the College of Sharia was opened in Azaz, the College of Economics in the city of al-Bab, and the College of Education in Afrin, in coordination with the doctor (Ghassan Jamous) who pledged allegiance to ISIS/ Daesh in 2015 and moved to the city of al-Raqqa to treat the wounded mercenaries of ISIS.

Sources from inside Afrin say that religious institutes have been opened in the city under the supervision of the College of Education, which is run by the Ministry of Education and Gaziantep University, whose mission is to promote the ideology of al-Qaeda and extremism, and this was confirmed by lawyer and human rights activist Gabriel Mustafa.

The Turkish occupation sought to force the people to learn in the Turkish language and raise the Turkish flag in schools and institutions in the areas it occupies, in addition to imposing Turkish school uniforms on students. And the schools run by Turkey in the occupied territories imposed on Afrin children in schools, chanting morning slogans "Long live Erdogan" and forcing them to raise Turkish flags.

In this context, lawyer and human rights activist Gabriel Mustafa says: "The cultural genocide of the Turkish occupation and its mercenaries in Afrin has embodied the imposition of the Turkish and Arabic language and the elimination of the Kurdish language."

Gabriel regrets the lack of a text criminalizing and prohibiting cultural genocide, adding: “The international community must move quickly to adopt a text criminalizing this type of genocide, bearing in mind that cultural genocide is a component of genocide, and taking the term into consideration in 2007 in the Declaration of Nations. United Nations Rights for Indigenous Peoples and was placed alongside the term ethnic genocide, but it was removed from the final document, and it was replaced by the term genocide.

The human rights activist pointed out that as a lawyer and human rights activist and the lack of an explicit provision in international law criminalizing cultural genocide, he considers that the cultural genocide committed by the Turkish occupation and its mercenaries in Afrin falls under the category of genocide crimes against the Kurdish people in Afrin.

Turkish cultural centers in Afrin!

In the context of obliterating the culture in Afrin and consolidating the Ottoman culture in the region, the Turkish occupation state inaugurated the Anatolian Cultural Center in Afrin on January 30th.

The Turkish state, through the cultural center it inaugurated, is working to disseminate Turkish culture and make the Turkish language more common in the Kurdish-majority region, which has become a serious threat to the future of the region and leads it to an unknown fate in light of the silence of international and international organizations.

In this context, former Pentagon official Michael Rubin said that every Turkish leader, from Bulent Ecevit in 1974 to Erdogan today, relies on the fact that he can withstand international outrage.

The West has always shown its resentment, as it expressed its resentment in 1974 when Turkey invaded Cyprus, but Ankara continued the ethnic cleansing, and Western diplomats hardly say anything now, and the same applies to Afrin, regardless of the anger that the West expressed at the ethnic cleansing that was inflicted against the Kurds. In the region, the world is largely silent now.

Rubin emphasized that Turkey realizes that if it simply ignores the international outrage, it can withstand more. Add to this mix that Europe, despite all its talk of human rights, is really only interested in making money, and Turkey knows that it can bribe them to evade accountability.

'Afrin is now a safe haven for ISIS/Daesh'

He added, “With the departure of James Jeffrey and Rich Ozen, Turkey can no longer rely on the people who were interfering on its behalf within the US State Department team, although the US embassy in Ankara still supports Turkey and supports its propaganda, however, Biden is different from Trump, Obama and Bush say he recognizes Erdogan for what he really is: a corrupt and destabilizing dictator, who is not prepared to accept the illusion that Turkey is a democracy.

Concluding his speech, Michael Rubin remarked, “It is certain that Brett McGurk - who is now a senior official at the National Security Council - understands the dynamics of the region. However, at a time when Biden may be more hostile and less confident in Turkey because of its actions in Syria as well as S-400, Libya, Somalia and its generally destabilizing behavior, there is not much that the White House appears ready to do to force Turkey to withdraw from Syria at the moment, even as Turkey turns the territories it occupied into a safe haven for ISIS/ Daesh.

T/S

ANHA