13 martyred, 208 kidnapped in occupied Afrin during 7 months

The Human Rights Organization Afrin - Syria revealed the statistics of the crimes of the Turkish occupation and its mercenaries in occupied Afrin during the past 7 months, and confirmed the martyrdom 13 people, including 3 women, the kidnapping of 208 people, including 24 women, the cutting and uprooting of 17 thousand trees and the burning of 70 hectares.

9 August, 2023 09:02

NEWS DESK- AL SHAHBA

Members of the Human Rights Organization Afrin - Syria, the jurists of Afrin and al-Shahba cantons and the people of Sardam camp gathered in the main square of the camp in al-Ahdath district in al-Shahba to issue a statement, revealing the statistics of 7 months of crimes in Afrin.

The spokesperson for the Human Rights Organization Afrin-Syria, Muhammad Abdo, read the statement in Arabic.

The statement read:

"The Turkish state's policy of demographic change in the Afrin region is an extension of the Ottoman policy that was based on forced displacement and demographic change, in addition to crimes committed by the Turkish state in Afrin that amount to war crimes, genocide and crimes against humanity.

These crimes and violations varied between killing, kidnapping, torture, enforced disappearance, ransom money, seizing public and private property, stealing antiquities and selling them on the global black market, cutting down fruit and forest trees, and burning agricultural lands.

The statistics of these violations and crimes:

-Kidnapping: 208 civilians, including 24 women, and the rape of a minor girl.

-Murder: 13 people, including 3 women, one of them suicide.

-Trees: More than 16,000 trees were cut down, more than 1,000 uprooted, and more than 70 hectares of agricultural land were burned.

-Excavation and destruction of more than 5 locations.

Demographic change: building and equipping about (8) settlements with the support and financing of Turkish, Gulf and Palestinian organizations, one of them (Ajnadayn settlement).

Among the most serious of these violations and crimes is the demographic change, which has reached the level of cultural genocide.

Whereas, demographic change, as defined by international law:It is that transformation that occurs in the structure and population of a geographical area, as a result of a voluntary action or actions by a party towards individuals or groups that lose their will in that transformation.

In the sense that change cannot take place unless it was preceded by another procedural act such as moving a group of people from a place and bringing another group to replace it, and this procedure is called displacement and falls under war crimes, genocide and crimes against humanity, according to international humanitarian law under Articles (6-7-8) of the Rome Statute.

Since its control of the Syrian lands, the Turkish state has been seeking to Turkify the entire region, especially in Afrin, where it is changing the identity of Afrin by changing the names of streets, villages, squares, public facilities and hospitals, and raising the Turkish flag over schools and public facilities.

The Turkish occupation changed the names of the main squares in the city center of Afrin, such as Azadi Square (Freedom) to Atatürk Square, in addition to teaching the Turkish language in schools, placing the Turkish flag on students’ clothes, changing the identification signs of shops and streets and writing them in Turkish.

The Turkish occupation sabotaged the holy places and the religious shrines of the Yazidis.

Moreover, the Turkish occupation forced the people to issue Turkish identities to Syrian civilians within the Syrian territories, and most of the archaeological places and sites listed on the UNESCO list were destroyed during the attack on Afrin, such as the Ain Dara Temple, the Prophet Houri, the Duduriyya Cave and the tomb of Mar Maron, and looting the archaeological finds and selling them in the global black markets.

Likewise, the Turkish occupation dismantled the railway extending from Akbis Square in Rajo district, passing through Kafr Jannah and Qatma in Sharan district, and sold it to merchants of Azaz.

The process of demographic change and the construction of settlements in occupied Afrin continues with the support and funding of Turkish, Gulf and Palestinian organizations, as about (30) settlements were built by the Turkish occupation authorities with funding and support from the Gulf Brotherhood organizations such as the White Hands Association, Kuwait Mercy, the Qatari Bunyan Association and other associations that work In this field.

Worth to note that villages and displacement camps in Shahba areas are still subjected to systematic shelling on an almost daily basis by the Turkish forces and their affiliated Syrian armed factions, which have left many massacres against innocent civilians, claiming dozens of lives, most of them children and women.

And all that is happening under the sight the whole world,

We, as a human rights organization appeal to all international and humanitarian organizations led by the United Nations, to fulfill their pre-legal moral and humanitarian duty regarding what is happening in the Afrin region, and we call on them to put pressure on the Turkish state to withdraw from all the areas it occupies, especially Afrin, and to hold the perpetrators of these crimes and violations accountable.

a.k

ANHA