No support from any international organizations for Afrin people
The people of Afrin who displayed a great resistance against attacks launched on January 20 by the invading Turkish army and the gangs they gathered from groups like ISIS, Al Qaeda and Al Nusra for two months, after which they migrated to the Shehba region on the decision by the canton administrations to avoid new massacres.
The people continue their resistance under harsh conditions in the Shehba region since March 18 and they have not received any support from any international aid organizations. There are 176.000 people from Afrin settled in 50 villages in Shehba’s Fafinê, Tal Rifat, Ehres and Kefernayê subdistricts and 10 villages in Afrin’s Sherawa district.
Following the vile attacks by the Turkish army and their gangs, the people of Afrin had to leave their homes with the clothes on their backs, and continue their resistance with the support of the Kurdish people and their friends.
With support from Kurds in Northern Syria and Europe, and the Kurdish people and their allies in general, two camps have been set up to date in the Shehba region with limited means.
There are some 1.000 families in the Berxwedan camp, and families have started to settle in the Serdem Camp which has just been completed. But the people from Afrin live mostly in villages, courtyards and derelict buildings.
The people continue their resistance in the Berxwedan Camp and they say that they haven’t received any support from any international aid organization, and that they live on only what the Kurdish people have been sending them under difficult and limited circumstances. The people of Afrin say their conditions are rough but they will resist for their lands despite all, and never accept the invasion.
70 year old Fatme Ebdulah had to migrate from the Beradê village of Afrin’s Sherawa district, and said they had to leave their homes under a cloud of bombs and were only able to take the clothes on their backs. Fatme Ebdulah’s husband Hesen Ebûd said they woke up one night to the sound of bombs: “Our homes, our belongings, everything has been looted. We live in camps here. We are grateful for the friends trying to see to our every need, but it is too hot, summer is coming, there are things that are bigger than them. To this day, nobody except for the friends has helped us.”
A woman named Zeynep Hesen said her family first stayed among the ruins of a building in Ehres, and they moved to the camp later on, then added that their needs are increasing with the onset of summer and the heat: “You see, there are children everywhere. They are starting to get sick, partly due to the heat. They can’t bathe properly. When the weather gets a bit hotter, many infections will turn up too.”
Mihemed Cemil said they also lack medicine and cleaning supplies and that no international aid organization has helped them, and they have been forgotten. An old woman named Fidan said her family have been out of their home for a month, and she hasn’t had an opportunity to wash herself, adding that they have no clothes and there is a lack of water. Another citizen named Ehmed Heyder said they couldn’t bathe for days.
“Turkey wants no trace of Kurdishness left in Afrin”
In its attempt to Turkifying everything reminding of Kurds in Afrin, Turkey has even changed the name of Avrin Hospital (in Kurdish Avrin Nexweşxaneya) into Turkish.
In its attempt to Turkifying everything reminding of Kurds in Afrin, Turkey has even changed the name of Avrin Hospital (in Kurdish Avrin Nexweşxaneya) into Turkish.
Speaking to Mesopotamia News Agency, Former hospital doctor Ebu Mihemed said: "Kurdish signs in the hospital were taken down and replaced with Turkish ones. They ca not even tolerate Kurdish names. They want to erase every trace of Kurdishness from Afrin. This is what is called occupation”.
Turkey and the Turkish-supported Free Syrian Army Turkey (FSA) continue their attacks against villages, districts, canton centres. At least 300 villages and centres have been burned and destroyed. The attacks against everything Kurdish continue.
After the destruction of the statue of Kawa the Blacksmith in Afrin, after the killings, rapes, torture, plunders now it was the turn of the Kurdish signs in Avrîn Hospital.
Ebu Mihemed, one of the doctors who worked in the hospital, said: “They want to change the demography of the region by destroying every trace of Kurdishness”.
Mihemed, who had been a gynecologist at Avrin Hospital for 6 years, said he had to treat dozens of injured people when the attacks against Afrin took place. Mihemed, himself from Afrin, stated that he remained in the city from the beginning of the attacks to their end.
Mihemed remembered with anguish the casualties, the wounded. Every day dozens of women and children were taken to the hospital to be treated. “Turkey and their islamist allies were targeting civilians, despite saying the contrary. In fact, they targeted Kurds” Mihemed said.
The doctor also underlined the deafening silence of the world. “Something which strikes us a lot - said Mihemed - because this massacre happened before the eyes of the world, yet nobody said anything”.
Mihemed confirmed that they are receiving news from Afrin. These are tales of horror, said the doctor: “People disappear, women are raped, people's property is confiscated, people are tortured, the world must see what they are doing to Kurds in Afrin. The press must go to Afrin and report, delegations must be formed and visit the city to tell the truth about the repression Kurds are suffering”.
Women kidnapped, 99 murdered
The Human Rights Organization Afrin-Syria made a statement denouncing the systematic crimes committed against women in the northern Syrian canton of Afrin, which has been occupied by the Turkish state since 2018
Members of the organization made a statement to the press in the Serdem Camp in Shehba Canton, which houses IDPs from Afrin. They were accompanied by representatives of civil society organizations.
The statement read out by Heyhan Elî, a member of the organization, pointed out that the invading Turkish state and allied armed mercenary groups have committed various crimes against women from Afrin, such as kidnapping, torture, murder and sexual assaults.
The statement pointed out that one of the main objectives of the crimes committed by the Turkish occupation state and allied armed factions was to drive women into a corner and ignore them. “The crimes committed against women in Afrin have not been witnessed in any period of history, including in the wars of the Mongols and the Tatars.
According to Articles 6-7-8 of the Rome Statute, these acts fall into the category of war crimes and crimes against humanity. Yet, in spite of international laws, women and children are subjected to all forms of torture and crimes,” the statement said.
The Human Rights Organization listed the violations and crimes committed by the Turkish state since its invasion of Afrin in 2018 as follows:
Over a thousand women have been kidnapped and the aftermath of many of them is unknown.
99 women have been murdered. 9 committed suicide under suspicious conditions.
74 women have been subjected to sexual assault and rape.
On the other hand, the organization denounced cases of forced marriage and underage marriage under pressure and coercion.
“As women’s rights activists, we call on all international human rights, humanitarian and feminist organizations to fulfill their moral and legal duty in the face of the crimes committed against the entire population in the occupied territories of North-East Syria.
The perpetrators of these crimes, especially those committed against women and children, must be brought to justice. Pressure should be put on the Turkish state to withdraw its troops from all the territories it has occupied. The displaced people should be secured a safe return to their land and the victims should be provided with moral and material support.”
Settlers plunder olive harvest
Foreigners who settled in the houses of Afrin residents who were forcibly displaced by Turkey and its mercenaries within the scope of changing the demographic structure, confiscated all the seasonal products of 80 trees
According to information obtained from local sources in Afrin's Şîyê district, foreigners and a group of shepherds settled in the region after it was occupied by Turkey and its mercenaries in 2018, continue to plunder people’s proprieties and trees. In the village of Çeqela Ortê in Şiyê district, the settlers stole this year's entire seasonal harvest of 80 olive trees.
According to the information obtained, the names of the citizens whose products were confiscated are as follows: 15 olive trees belonging to a citizen named Xelîl Reşîd, 50 trees belonging to Îmad Reşîd Hemo and 15 olive trees belonging to Eli Betal Mistefa.
The Turkish army, together with its mercenaries, has been committing crimes against humanity such as arbitrary treatment of the people of the region, forced displacement, violence, kidnapping, robbery, plunder and looting policies since the occupation of the city. With this policy, the invaders are trying to force the remaining local people to emigrate in order to be able to replace them with mercenary families and Turkmens close to them.
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