Turkish Opposition MP Calls for Probe into Kurdish Women Being Kidnapped, Sent to Libya

Turkish opposition lawmaker Tulay Hatımoğulları Oruç of the Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) presented a parliamentary inquiry to Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu, raising questions on the kidnapping of hundreds of Kurdish women and girls by Turkish-backed factions in Afrin, northern Syria.

According Oruç some of the kidnapped women were taken to western Libya for sexual enslavement by the leaders of Syrian militias.

This coincided with Çavuşoğlu and his counterpart at the Libyan Government of National Accord (GNA), Mohamed Taher Siala, discussing bilateral relations, the latest situation after the ceasefire in Libya and the UN initiative to find a solution to the Libyan crisis.

Oruç launched parliamentary movements to investigate the shocking testimonies published by Kurdish women who escaped from Afrin during the Turkish offensive in 2018, and were raped and sold as slaves—some of whom were transferred to Libya.

“Are you investigating the claims that girls and women from Afrin were sent to Libya as slaves? Is your ministry aware of the sexual assaults in Afrin’s camps and prisons? Will it take the necessary measures to address these rights violations? Will it carry out coordinated activities with international organizations in this regard?” Oruç asked Çavuşoğlu during her intervention in parliament.

Testimonies of survivors from the Afrin region revealed the presence of hospitals in areas controlled by Ankara-backed factions which were full of the corpses of kidnapped women and girls.

These testimonies have been documented by the Missing Afrin Women Project, which tracks the disappearance of Kurdish women and girls in Afrin since 2018.

More than 1,000 women and girls are believed to be missing in Afrin alone after Turkey’s two-month Operation Olive Branch, which expelled the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) from the region two years ago.