SOHR reports serious violations of human rights in Afrin

Report confirms Turkey is responsible for serious violations of human rights in Afrin.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) issued a report on the post-occupation situation in Afrin. The report underlines the serious violations of any right carried out by Turkey and its jihadist mercenaries allies.  

Turkey and its allied gangs had launched an attack on Afrin on 20 January. The aim of the Turkish and jihadist gangs was clear from the beginning: they wanted to invade the city. And when green light was given to them from Russia, they intensified their attacks. The invading forces entered Afrin city centre on 18 March.

Looting and violence

According to the report by the SOHR, Turkey had carefully planned a resettlement on a land whose residents had been displaced. Those who remained, said the report, were shown no mercy. The city was just a ghost: empty houses and buildings while the gangs allied with Turkey plundered and destroyed shops and homes. The Observatory said that it was sufficient to mark with paint public buildings which were quickly turned into private properties. 

Demographically changing the face of Afrin

Hundreds of thousands of citizens were forcibly displaced while other people arrived in Afrin: these were families of the jihadists who were being brought to the Kurdish city from Aleppo and East Ghouta, said the report.

The report also criticises the United Nations for not listening and responding quickly to the dramatic situation of the hundred of thousands of people who were forced to leave their houses in Afrin. The Shebha camp was set up virtually with no aid from international organisations by the same Afrin self-administration.

Torture

The Observatory also confirmed that many public buildings were transformed in military bases or torture centre.

The report confirmed that Kurdish youth were taken to centres under Turkey’s control to be interrogated by the occupying forces. They were tortured, beaten and insulted. They can only be released if they pay huge amounts of money.