People’s Defense Units (YPG) Press Office released a statement warning that Turkish troops and jihadists wearing YPG forces’ military uniform are patrolling in Afrin and abusing people, violating their rights and looting their property in the name of YPG.

The statement by YPG Press Office said the following;

“The occupying Turkish army and its jihadist allies have started to smear our forces in order to abuse our people’s trust in us and to legitimate its presence and occupation in Afrin.

Continuing its illegitimate occupation in Afrin, Turkish army and its mercenaries try to make the people of Afrin accept the invasion by any means possible. Turkish army, which started to attack peaceful civilians of Afrin over the excuse of “the local people is being oppressed by YPG”, have committed countless war crimes and human rights violations by taking advantage of the silence of the global community.

Hundreds of thousands of people have been displaced, jihadi armed groups from all over Syria have been settled in the city with their families, Afrin has been turned into a jihadist heaven in Syria. The kidnapping and killing of civilians are continuing on a daily basis, in addition to the infighting between the groups. In spite of the forced immigration, ethnic cleansing, looting, theft and mass killings, people of Afrin have never given up the resistance against the Turkish occupation forces and their jihadist allies.

As a latest attempt to legitimate the occupation, Turkish army and its jihadists started to smear the gains of the people in Rojava Kurdistan. Turkish troops and jihadists wearing our forces’ military uniform are patrolling in Afrin and abusing people, violating their rights and looting their property in the name of YPG. We urge our people in Afrin and other parts of Rojava/northern Syria to be aware of such attempts of Turkish army. We believe that our people will not be deceived with such smearing campaigns. We reiterate that we will not stay silent against this dirty attempt by invaders.”