Reports say the Turkish state has started to issue ID cards in the Northern Syrian and Rojavan areas they invaded.

Local sources say one side of the ID cards are in Arabic and the other in Turkish, and the cards have Turkish flags on them. These IDs are being issued to persons who serve the invasion in institutions and to agents.

One such ID card was seen in occupied Jindirese. The card, seemingly a membership card to the “Jindirese Local Council”, has a Turkish flag on it.

The Turkish state has been attempting to make the occupation permanent in all areas they have invaded. The Ankara regime pushes out local residents from their lands systemically on one hand, and settles in gang members and their families they bring in from elsewhere to homes and institutions.

In March, some articles in Turkish media said Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan was planning to “appoint governors” to occupied Afrin and other areas. There had been claims during the most recent parliamentary elections that Syrians had been issued ID cards to allow them to vote.

The invasion in Afrin started on January 20. On March 18, the city center was invaded. There have been systemic and intense war crimes and human rights violations in all occupied areas. On top of the massacres during the invasion attacks in Afrin, there are news of executions, torture, theft, looting, harrassment and rapes every day.

Amnesty International issued a statement in early August and said there were severe human rights violations in occupied Afrin, arguing that the “invasion force” that is Turkey was responsible. Human Rights Watch issued a report in June that said Turkey-backed groups were confiscating private property of Kurds and looting the city in occupied Afrin.