41 orgs in Syria and abroad calls on UN to place Afrin, Serêkaniyê and Tal Abyad under international protection

 At the beginning of their letter, a copy of which we received, the organizations said: “Today, the United Nations is experiencing a real and unprecedented test that threatens more than ever its credibility, the purposes and reasons for its existence and its emergence, especially after a series of frankly dubious failures in the performance of its responsibilities regarding what is happening in the world of  crises, wars and issues widen in scope and exacerbate their disastrous effects and results from time to time.

The areas of Afrin, Ras al-Ain/Sere-Kaniye, and Tal Abyad are living examples that are appropriate for our letter to you.”

 It added: "These regions live as a reality of shame that will be mentioned in the pages of human history, as they experienced it, starting as a result of the Turkish "Olive Branch" operation in 2018, and the "Peace Spring" operation in October 2019, and under your authority, charters, declarations and laws.  covenants and agreements of rights and freedoms, or lived through it after all the trials, sacrifices, tragedies and wars that the world has gone through, which was never a solution to a cause or a right.

 The organizations shed light on the Turkish occupation attacks on the areas of Afrin, and then Ras al-Ain / Serêkaniyê and Tel Abyad in Syria, and a large number of crimes and atrocities in breach of international laws, “in breach of not only international laws relating to prisoners of war and the conditions and rules of their treatment, but also breached and disregarded against the wall all the rules and texts of international humanitarian law and international human rights law, charters, declarations and covenants of those rights, especially those related to obligations to protect and secure the safety and security of the civilians during wars.

 Declaring the occupied territories openly, planned and systematically

 It added to its message that "the Turkish occupation and its mercenaries prosecuted Afrin, Ras al-Ain / Sere Kani and Tel Abyad in all its meanings. They robbed, looted, killed, practiced kidnapping, enforced disappearance, torture, forced displacement, extortion and resettlement, and prevented the return of the displaced and sexual violence against both sexes."

Turkey did not practice all of this in secret, but rather in an open, planned and systematic manner, and for purposes that are extremely malicious and bad, perhaps the most important of which is to strike the Syrian religious, ethnic, sectarian and other components together, and sow sedition, hatred and grudges passed down from generation to generation, with the aim of passing its colonial goals, which  certainly the most dangerous of them is its desire and targeting of the Kurds as a component that Turkey seeks to exterminate and ethnically cleanse, especially if we know that the Kurds constitute more than 95% of the population of Afrin.

 We do not make these judgments arbitrarily, nor do we make accusations out of frivolity. Rather, the picture and the reality on the ground are the clearest proof.”

 War crimes and genocide

 The organizations emphasized that the Turkish occupation state, along with its affiliated groups, is committing crimes, most of which fall within the crimes considered by international humanitarian law as war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide, specifically according to the texts and articles of the Hague Conventions (1899-1907), the four Geneva Conventions, especially the Geneva Convention  Fourth (1949), and its two annexes (1977), in addition to what was stated in the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (1998).

 The crimes of aggression committed by Turkey against citizens, their arbitrary arrest, torture and taking them to unknown destinations, are described as explicitly stated in the Rome Statute, especially Article VII of it related to enforced disappearance, or what is stated in the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance (  Articles 1-2-7 is an example).

On another aspect of importance, the organizations pointed out in their letter that the Turkish occupation state committed “the crimes of systematic forced displacement against the local population, expelling them from their homes and properties and preventing them from them, emptying villages and regions, deporting them and bringing others in return from different regions of Syria and settling them instead of the original population, as well as preventing the displaced as a result of  the war prevents them from returning to their homes and properties and closing the crossings for them, all in a step aimed at changing the demographics of Afrin and Ras al-Ain / Sere Kani and targeting the privacy and demographics of those cities, which can undoubtedly or ambiguously be considered crimes of ethnic and religious cleansing and genocide of an ethnic group, the Kurds, and religious ones targeting  the Kurdish Yezidis, and with this description it falls under the items discussed and dealt with by international laws, in particular the Fourth Geneva Convention (Article 49 thereof), the Rome Statute (Article 7, Clause 1, Paragraph D), the Convention on the Prevention of the Crime of Genocide approved by the United Nations (1948) (Article 2  )

 Not to mention the occurrence of many other crimes and acts of sabotage based on sectarian hatred that affect all facilities of life in Afrin, Ras al-Ain / Sere-Kaniye and Tel Abyad, including destruction of properties, all service bases, infrastructure, monuments, crops, trees and forests, and burning them, in a way that made these region mire in chaos and instability.

 It pointed out that what was previously mentioned is only a summary and a brief picture of the reality of the situation in the areas occupied by Turkey, and said: "The continuation of the situation and the failure to remedy it and put an end to it portends more terrible and catastrophic calamities whose effects extend for an unknown period, and that the threats of the Turkish state recently  launching a new military operation in the northern Syrian regions (Tal Rifaat and Manbij) under the name of a safe area, the voluntary return of Syrian refugees from its lands, and the deportation of nearly (500) refugees, according to the statements of the Turkish Interior Minister.  and the displaced.”

Demands

 The organizations called on the international institution to immediately assume its responsibilities and obligations, and to take all measures to put an end to crime that occurs in Afrin, Ras al-Ain / Sere Kani, and Tal Abyad, and against the rights of its people, and work mainly on:

 * Calling on Turkey, as a member state of the international organization, to respect and abide by its charter, by immediately stopping its violations and crimes, and its loyal factions, and withdrawing from Afrin, Ras al-Ain / Sere-Kaniye, Tal Abyad, and other Syrian areas immediately.

 * Calling on Turkey to immediately release all the disappeared and abducted by it and its Syrian factions, and to stop enforced disappearances, physical attacks, torture and all manifestations of violence against civilians.

 * Demanding Turkey to abide by the treatment of prisoners and detainees who participated in hostilities against it in accordance with the international laws of war and international humanitarian law, especially the relevant articles of the Geneva Conventions.

 * Demanding Turkey to ensure the safe and secure return of all displaced and civilians to their homes and the restoration of their properties, and to stop the practices of extortion and intimidation in all its forms, and to provide protection and the means and requirements for a decent living and services for the population, as all of these are among the obligations of the occupying power under the Fourth Geneva Convention of 1949.

 * Immediate cessation of the settlement operations of Arab families inside the occupied areas by Turkey, especially Afrin and Ras al-Ain / Sere-Kaniye, and the immediate expulsion of settlers, and securing them in other places until they can return to their original areas.

 * Demanding Turkey to allow all media, committees, international humanitarian, relief and human rights organizations, and civil society organizations to enter Afrin, Ras al-Ain / Serêkaniyê and Tel Abyad, and to bring in all relief supplies and materials, and to provide adequate protection and guarantees for the competent authorities and fact-finding committees to report and document violations, crimes and abuses  all.

 * The United Nations, through its institutions and branches, and in coordination and cooperation with the International Criminal Court, seeks to open investigations and trials to prosecute and punish the perpetrators of crimes and violations in Syria, whatever their status, and to compensate those affected by those crimes.

* Most important of all is placing Afrin, Ras al-Ain / Serê Kaniyê and Tel Abyad under international supervision and protection, as these areas are subjected to genocide and systematic ethnic and religious cleansing targeting their Kurdish component and the Yezidi Kurds in them.

 The signatory organizations are:

Human Rights Organization Afrin-Syria, Afrin Lawyers Union, Civil Society Organizations in al-Shahba, Organization for Human Rights Defense Initiative, Union of Syrian Yazidis, National Initiative for Afrin, Center for Research and Protection of Women’s Rights in Syria, Human Rights Organization in Jazira, Human Rights Organization in  Al-Furat, Lawyers Union in Northeast Syria, Afrin Post News Network, "T'azur" Association for Victims, "Wheat and Olive" platform, Afrin platform, Ras al-Ain / Sere Kaniyeh platform, Syrian National Alliance in Washington, Sere-Kaniye Displaced Committee (Ras al-Ain)  Afrin Social Association, Rojava Coordinating Organizations for Kurdistan Civil Society Forces, Human Rights Committee in Syria (MAF), Medical Council under the Medical Emergency Unit, Kurdish Jurists and Lawyers Association, Human Development Association, Barwa Printing and Publishing House, Jakar Khoen Cultural Forum,  Helen Children’s Organization, Rojkar Relief Organization, Veterinarians Association, Kurdish Artists Forum, Reconciliation Committee, Religious Forum, People with Special Needs Association, Work Team Association, Health Care Association, Agricultural Studies and Consultation Center, Al-Shahba Displaced Persons Association, Ra Association  What Children in Qamishli, Educational Curriculum Association, Association of Kurdish University Students and Academics, Forum of Kurdish Notables, Kongra Star.

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