Reports monitor new Turkish plan to settle Afrin

Ali Ragab

The Turkish occupiers and their militias continue their crimes against the people of Afrin, including killing, kidnapping and torturing of civilians, even women and the elderly, in the most horrific ways, in addition to imposing royalties and ransoms on civilians despite the Turkish-imposed blockade preventing the export of their crops except by way of Turkey.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights stated that the people in the village of Basila in the countryside of Afrin northwest of Aleppo, formed a delegation and went to the headquarters of the Afrin governor appointed by the Turkish forces, demanding that they be allowed to return to their homes in the village, which has been completely emptied of civilians and controlled by the pro-Turkish Levant Front militia after it looted the houses. But the Turkish governor has refused to meet the people’s delegation.

The Afrin Activists Network (AAN) also mentioned that the Erdogan terrorist militia cut down trees and ignited fires in wooded areas and olive groves so that they could sell their own firewood easily, as part of Ankara’s systematic policy to eliminate the vegetation in Afrin.

Reliable information and pictures from AAN sources were published about the Turkish goal of changing the demographics of Afrin, in the event a solution is reached that would allow the people to return to their city and force the occupiers to leave, by giving the settlers state lands that were previously in the hands of the Syrian regime. This is accomplished by cutting down forests and other trees to build homes, while the lands of displaced Kurds are being seized for the same purpose.

The AAN monitored the occurrence of murders and tortures, as well as 44 kidnappings of unarmed citizens, including four women and a child. The Turkish-backed forces also burned about 9,000 olive trees in 45 locations and looted the area’s ancient ruins.

In one case of torture, Erdogan’s terrorist militias broke into the home of 50-year-old tailor Abdel Qadid bin Jalal Ibrahim in the center of Afrin on July 15 and beat the man, but he managed to escape and seek treatment at a hospital.

Earlier, seven human rights organizations in Syria issued a joint statement regarding the victims of attacks and crimes committed by the Turkish occupation forces, which read, “We remain the organizations defending human rights in Syria in the context of our work monitoring, following up, documenting and publishing all violations committed on Syrian soil by the Turkish aggressor forces and armed collaborators in the northern Syrian regions of Idlib, Aleppo and Afrin, and the spread of terrorist operations in Deir Ezzor, Hama, Homs, and Daraa by armed ISIS elements and by elements belonging to several terrorist factions deployed in various regions, in addition to the violations committed by several governmental and non-governmental parties.”

“In addition to the victims of mine explosions planted in various regions, terrorist explosions, assassinations, indiscriminate shelling of defenseless civilians, and forced disappearances, which led to an increase in cases of destruction and sabotage to many infrastructure, service and health facilities, including water and electricity stations, and burning and sabotaging lands, homes and shops. These attacks have resulted in many deaths and injuries among civilians, children, women and the elderly,” the statement added.