HDP Batman MP Feleknas Uca, tabled a question to Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu on the human rights violations in Afrin and women abducted by mercenary groups linked Turkey.

Uca drew attention to the reports prepared by human rights organizations such as the International Independent Research Commission and Amnesty International in her parliamentary question. “Since March 2018, many arbitrary arrests have been carried out against civilians by groups supported by the Turkish Government and gathered under the name of the Syrian National Army (SNA). Human rights organizations recorded 506 arbitrary arrests in the second half of 2019, and there are women detained and disappeared by these armed groups throughout 2020. Reports also show that the units in question subjected civilians to torture in their headquarters. It is also known that these troops collect money and kidnap people in order to release them upon payment of ransom."

Uca asked Çavuşoğlu to answer the following questions:

 * How many civilians have been kidnapped and disappeared in Afrin since March 2018? How many of them are women and girls? What is the fate of women who had been enslaved by groups supported by Turkey?

 * Do you have a policy to prevent women from being abducted and subjected to inhumane treatment in Afrin? Have you carried out any work to ensure the prosecution of those who commit crimes such as plundering, kidnapping and torture in Afrin?

 * Are you making any efforts to find the women and girls kidnapped by the Syrian National Army and return them to their families?

* Turkey's support of these groups has continued for over 2 years. Have you carried out an effective investigation into the human rights violations also reflected in international reports?

* Militant groups backed by the Government of Turkey are committing crimes and torture in Afrin as well as human rights violations. Have any legal action been taken against those responsible for such violations? If not, what is the reason? Will any action be taken?"