85 civilians were kidnapped in Afrin in March

Ibrahim Şêxo from the Human Rights Organization in Afrin published a balance sheet of human rights violations in the month of March in Afrin in Rojava, which has been occupied by Turkey and its mercenary forces for four years now. According to the report, 85 civilians, including twelve women, were abducted by Turkish intelligence or jihadist mercenary forces of the occupying power in March. Meanwhile, protests against the occupation forces took place in the districts of Shiye and Sherawa.

Şêxo stated: “There is not a day when the Turkish army and its mercenary troops do not commit crimes against the civilian population in Afrin. The families of the abducted are forced to pay ransom. Due to the international silence, the Turkish state continues its crimes. If the international community does not condemn the Turkish state as an occupying power, the responsibility for these crimes lies with it as well.” He warned that if this continues, the population will be completely displaced and Afrin will become a single Turkish colony.

Those abducted in Afrin end up in the dungeons of mercenaries or the torture cellars of the Turkish intelligence service MIT. Again and again, abductees are tortured to death. Thousands abducted since 2018 are still “disappeared” today.

Şêxo also warned that the occupiers’ regime of terror serves to displace the population. The numbers shed a clear light on the situation: the population of Afrin was at least 96 percent Kurdish before the occupation, which has lasted since March 18, 2018. Today, the proportion of the Kurdish population is less than 23 percent; some sources even speak of only 15 percent. Of the approximately 15,000 members of the Alavi faith, just 200 remain. The number of Yazidi believers has been reduced from 25,000 to 2,000 under Turkish occupation.