The invading Turkish state and their allied gangs are inhumanely attacking civilians in Afrin which they started pillaging after their barbaric attacks.

X.Z., who was forced to cross into the Shehba Canton along with hundreds of thousands of Afrin residents on March 18 as the barbaric attacks against Afrin continued, returned to the city with hopes of saving his property from pillagers, and now has talked to ANHA about the inhumane practices he was subjected to.

X.Z., who wishes to remain anonymous for the safety of his relatives in Afrin, said he fell for the lies of “Afrin is now safe” that were spread after they migrated to Shehba following the barbaric attacks, and returned to the city to retrieve his property. X.Z. was subjected to inhumane attacks in Afrin when he returned, and went back to Shehba risking death.

X.Z. said the gang groups in Afrin can’t agree on how to distribute the looted property and have clashes all the time: “Especially in the evening hours, they would just randomly open fire on people and buildings. They did all sorts of inhumane things to intimidate and terrorize the people.” X.Z. added: “If I hadn’t been able to get out of Afrin, seeing their practices every day would certainly drive me mad.”

X.Z. said the gangs confiscate the food farmers take with them to the fields to starve them: “Completely arbitrarily, they would claim a civilian going their way was aiding the YPG and torture them.” X.Z. said young people were abducted on sight and tortured in the city, and added: “My house was raided repeatedly as well. They would put a gun on my six year old daughter’s head. In the end I risked death to get out of Afrin and reached Shehba.”

X.Z. ended his words by saying the peoples in the city are always waiting for the YPG/YPJ fighters to come.