The Centre for Documenting Violations announced the names of 32 citizens abducted by the occupying Turkish state forces and allied gangs in the Afrin Canton in the month of January.

The Centre for Documenting Violations shared the following information regarding the abductions recorded in the city this month:

2 January 2024

The so-called 'National Army' (Sulayman Shah/Amshat) gangs kidnapped citizens named Rifet Behcet Hisên, Zekî. C, Zekeriya Mihemed Reşîd (51). The reason for their abduction was the non-payment of the 10-dollar tribute to the olive factories in Qermîtliq village. The leader of the gang is Ebû Emşe.

Amshat gangs kidnapped a citizen named Derar Mehmûd Mustefa Dawûd. As Dawoud refused to leave his house, Ebû Emşe attempted to confiscate it, claiming that he did not have property documents with him and that the house belonged to his relative.

National Army-Political Security gangs kidnapped Kawa Ehmed Mihemed, a taxi driver, in Afrin city centre. Mihemed comes from the Qasha village in Bilbilê district.

National Army gangs kidnapped Arif Omer Elî (36) who came to Azaz after being deported from Turkey. He comes from the Meydankê village in Shera district.

3 January 2024

National army-intelligence agency gangs raided Upper Goliya village in Rajo district and kidnapped the residents Henîfe Silêman Silêman (20) and Zeyneb Silêman Silêman (21). The two women had been kidnapped at the age of 15 and 16 after the occupation of Afrin in 2018. They were then released for a ransom of 11 thousand dollars.

Civil Police gangs abducted Hesen Eslan Bekir Kote (46) from the Anqelê village in Shiye district.

5 January 2024

National Army gangs (plainclothes police) abducted Henîf Behrî Bekir (47) from Bilbilê district. Bekir was abducted while getting his personal ID card from the civil registry office and was taken to Maratê prison.

9 January 2024

National Army gangs (Military Police) abducted 4 children from Jindires district. The names of three children are as follows: Aşiq El Emûrî (7), Eshed El Ewêd (3) and Alaa Camûs (3).

10 January 2024

National Army gangs abducted Delîl Mustefa (32) from Maratê village.

Civil Police gangs abducted Sebrî Mihemed Şêxo (60) from Celemê village of Jindires district and took him to an unknown place.

12 January 2024

In Kurzêlê village, Suleyman Shah gangs kidnapped and tortured village headman Ebdo Necar and many citizens in rural areas of Afrin on the pretext of not paying tribute (5 thousand dollars).

13 January 2024

The Siqûr El Şemal gangs, led by Hesen Xeyriye, kidnapped Îbrahîm Mihemed (38), a member of Sito family, from Ebûdanê village and demanded money for his release.

14 January 2024

Civil Police gangs abducted some citizens from Upper Goliya village in Rajo district. The names of the abducted citizens are as follows: Elî Mehmûd Silêman, Fatme Mihemed Silêman and Reynane Mihemed Yûsif. The same gangs also abducted sisters Zeyneb and Henîfe Silêman in the same month.

18 January 2024

Civil Police gangs abducted Ebdo Reşîd Henan (45) from Çolaqa village of Bilbilê district. Ebdo had also been abducted by the 9th Brigade gangs and released in exchange for money previously. His property is still in the hands of the National Army gangs.

19 January 2024

Military Police gangs abducted an elderly woman named Almaz (65), wife of Mihemed Birîm, from Hecîka village in Rajo district.

23 January 2024

Political Security gangs abducted Mihemed Mahmoud (53) and Mustefa Mihemed Bakr (33) from Upper Goliya village.

An elderly citizen named Elî Omer (71) from Elemara village in Rajo district was also abducted. The fate of engineer Remzî Hajj Reşîd from the same village, who was abducted in December 2022, is still unknown.

24 January 2024

Military Police gangs abducted Fîras Xelîl Nûrî (40), a citizen from Dêrsewanê village and working in Afrin, from city centre.

Background

Afrin Canton was the westernmost canton of Rojava and North and East Syria, home to 200,000 ethnic Kurds. Though the population was overwhelmingly Kurdish, it was home to diverse religious groups including Yazidis, Alawites and Christians alongside Sunni Muslims.

On 20 January 2018, Turkey launched air strikes on 100 locations in Afrin, as the onset of an invasion they dubbed ‘Operation Olive Branch.’

The Turkish Air Force indiscriminately shelled civilians as well as YPG/YPJ positions, while a ground assault was carried out by factions and militias organised under the umbrella of the Turkish-backed National Army.

By 15 March, Turkish-backed militias had encircled Afrin city and placed it under artillery bombardment. A Turkish airstrike struck the city’s only functioning hospital, killing 16 civilians.

Civilians fled and the SDF retreated, and by 18 March Turkey was in de facto occupation of Afrin. Between 400 and 500 civilians died in the invasion, overwhelmingly as a result of Turkish bombing. Other civilians were summarily executed in the field.

Prior to the Turkish invasion, Afrin had been one of the most peaceful and secure parts of Syria, virtually never seeing combat during the civil war bar occasional skirmishes between YPG/YPJ and jihadi forces on its borders. As a result, Afrin offered peaceful sanctuary to over 300,000 internally displaced people from elsewhere in Syria.