The Afrin Human Rights Organization has set itself the task of documenting the war crimes committed by the occupiers in the region. The list of crimes of the last two months is long.
İbrahim Şêxo, spokesman for the Afrin Human Rights Organization, said his organization has documented numerous war crimes committed by the Turkish army and loyal militias in Afrin over the past two months.
Accordingly, just two weeks ago, on June 20 and 21, there were raids in the villages of Keferzeyt, Telef, Gûziyê and Kefer, which were carried out by members of the Hamza Brigades. During raids such as these, civilians are regularly kidnapped by the militias. According to Şêxo, village chief Zuhêr Ezîz (50) and civilians İbrahim Ezîz (15), Mihemed Ferîd (40), Xelîl Hesen Ebdo (60), Ebdo Mehmûd (50) Beşar Mihemed Hesen (15) and Elî Gulê Xeyrî (39) were kidnapped by the jihadist militia.
Burnt corpses of abductees found
What danger the abductees are exposed, Şêxo makes clear in a kidnapping case of May 19 in the Azaz region. The civilians Reşîd Hemîd Xelîl, Şerefedîn Seydo and Mihemed Reşîd Xelîl were abducted by a Turkish-backed militia. The kidnappers then demanded $ 10,000 from the families for the release of their relatives. The families, however, were unable to collect the required amount. On June 23, the bodies of two of the three abductees were finally found in a field near the village of Qestel Cindo. A corpse had burn marks. Besides, his eyes were no longer in the eye sockets. The spokesman for the Afrin human rights organization adds that in the village of Axcelê, a resident named Rustem Misto had been abducted by a militia before his burned corpse was later found.
Robbery and murder cases part of everyday life
Şêxo further reports that armed militias are regularly responsible for raids targeting the Kurdish population of Afrin. Accordingly, on June 21, 80-year-old Hec Xelil Umer from the village of Kefer Delê was robbed by the occupiers. The militiamen not only robbed the victim, they also tortured him. A similar incident occurred in the district of Shiye on 14 June. Here, 77-year-old man Hisên Ereb Ismail was murdered in a robbery. The militiamen threw the man into a well. In his house they found only 400 Syrian Lira.
Another typical practice of the occupiers is to arbitrarily confiscate the property of the population, then sell it back to the owners. On 18 June, Sebiriya Derwiş from the village of Qermitik experienced such an incident. She was chased out of her home by militia officers and her tractor was confiscated. For the return of her home, the militia initially demanded $ 500. Later, they demanded another $ 2,000, otherwise, she was threatened that her house would be left to an Arab family. For her tractor she also had to pay $ 800 to the militia.
No different from ISIS
Another tactic that the loyalist militias use is the burning down of the fields. Şêxo reports that the inhabitants of Badino and Dimiliyê villages in the Rajo district are particularly affected. There have also been forest fires in the area. The burning of arable land is a war strategy, which the faithful militias have copied from the ISIS, believes Şêxo.
Even otherwise the action of the occupiers resembles the practice of the ISIS according to the speaker of the Afrin human rights organization. For this reason, Şêxo calls on international human rights activists to take responsibility for the events in Afrin.
“Afrin is a scene of war crimes and we have to put these criminals before international courts,” said Şêxo.
