Turkmen and militants instead of Kurds: Report exposes Turkish displacement policy in Afrin

Ali Ragab

The Turkish occupation forces in Syria continue to commit their crimes against the Syrians through displacement, the plundering of property and homes, and racial discrimination between the Kurds, Arabs and Turkmens in Afrin.

Human rights reports have monitored high rates of looting, robbery and seizure of homes belonging to Kurds by armed groups of Turkmen origin affiliated with Turkey.

According to the Human Rights Organization in Afrin, a Turkmen officer named Abdul Majid, who is working with Turkish intelligence, seized the house of a Kurdish citizen named Mohammed Abu Ziyad from Sherawa.

The Human Rights Organization in Afrin explained that after the aforementioned officer seized the house of the Kurdish citizen, he threatened him with kidnapping if he filed a complaint.

For the third year, Levant Front militants in the village of Qatma and displaced Arabs seized the crop of 800 olive trees belonging to Adnan Marika, which produces about 2,500 cans of oil.

The Syrian opposition coalition said on Twitter that 900 citizens in Afrin registered their names to restore their looted homes with the Redressing Grievances Committee, while 291 of those submitted files were resolved.

Ibrahim Sheikho, spokesman for the Human Rights Organization in Afrin, said that since the Turkish occupation forces, accompanied by armed militia members, entered Afrin in March 2018 and displaced its indigenous Kurdish population, they have not found any initiative or project to return the displaced Kurds to their villages.

Sheikho explained that the Turkish occupation and armed militias are obstructing the steps and ways for the return of forcibly displaced Kurds. According to regional and international agreements between the supporters of the parties to the Syrian crisis, namely Turkey, Russia and Iran, they are seeking to settle them in the camps near the juvenile prison located In the town of Al-Muslimiya, while Arabs and Turkmen coming from other conflict areas are settling in Afrin.

“We have noticed, in the current period, and according to the previous agreements mentioned between the parties, there is an exchange of control over the conflict areas. So every withdrawal by one party corresponds to control over another area that is not directly subject to any of those parties and the transfer of those who reside in it to another place,” he continued.

Sheikho added, “The Kurds have been deported from the town of Tal Rifat and Al-Shahba to the outskirts of Aleppo, and the original Arab population from the people of Tal Rifat and al-Shahba were allowed to return to their villages, supported by all means to secure security and stability for them.”

He sent a message to the Kurdish people in Syria demanding that the violations of the Turkish occupation be exposed internationally, emphasizing the need to hold them accountable by international bodies.

“To our Kurdish people in Afrin, work with all possible peaceful means to expose these practices and continue to convey images of the tragedies and suffering that the people of the region encounter, and expose the twisted methods used by the so-called armed militia leaders and their representatives in the Syrian Coalition after they were condemned by the international investigation committees to find solutions in the form of restitution of rights and grievances. The elements of these militias have increased lately, from robbery, looting, and the systematic kidnapping of employees in local councils and civilians in order to intimidate them and force them to leave their jobs,” he said.

Sheikho affirmed his support for the Kurds’ right of return in Syria, calling on the Kurdish people who are forcibly displaced and being held in Al-Shahba and in the camps to find adequate means and to demand from the international bodies concerned with the Syrian crisis, international investigation committees and human rights organizations to put pressure on the parties to the Syrian crisis in order to obtain their rights.