التقرير الاسبوعي ـ عفرين تحت الاحتلال 152

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Afrin under occupation (152):

The occupied villages of “Qurta and Abu Kaaba”, kidnapping and arbitrary arrests, chaos and disorder

 The information and news that is published in many reports on the prevailing situation in the occupied area of Afrin is only part of what is actually true, there are many details that are obscured or difficult to access, due to the media blackout imposed on the area and the people’s fear of revealing it in light of the threats they receive from Militias constantly; Only those loyal to Erdogan and his party deny the existence of violations and crimes against humans, trees and stones.

Here are some facts:

= Qurta village:

It belongs to Bulbul sub-district and is 10 km away from its center. Before the occupation, there were /60 families = 350 people / original Kurdish residents, all of whom were displaced following the invasion, and only / 20 families = 40 people / were returned, and /45 families = 250 people/ from the countryside of /Homs/ were resettled there.

During the aggression, three houses belonging to “Mustafa Koujah, Muhammad Izzat Suleiman, Jamil Ma’mak” and a villa belonging to “Ahmed Kouja” were completely destroyed, as well as the destruction of the villa of the late “Jamil Qurta” and his Olive press at the village junction, and the theft of its machines and the reinforcing iron in the building’s concrete, in addition partial destruction of twenty-two houses.

Those who remained in the village, “Ahmed Rashid Horo, Sheikh Mamo Kojer, Mahmoud Omar Horo, Ahmed Mohamed Rashid, Mustafa Horo, Muhammad Ali Abdo Qujah, Sariya Muhammad Hanan Qujah, Sultan Kakaj” were forced to live with their relatives because of the seizure of their homes and the refusal of the gunmen and recruits to hand it over to them.

The village is controlled by the militia of the “Sultan Murad Division”, which takes the house of the forcibly displaced citizen “Muhammad Shukri Ma’mo” as a military headquarters.

As a result of the violent clashes in the village during the aggression, martyrs fell among the ranks of the Kurdish fighters, the bodies of seven of them remained for a long time in the alleys of the village and it disintegrated before the eyes of its returning residents, as the militias prevented them from burying them.

The militias stole most of the contents of the houses, including supplies, copper utensils, equipment, etc., even doors, all cables and poles of the electricity and public landline networks, and three cars belonging to “Saeed Hanan Sido, Jamal Abdo Qujah, Mahmoud Izzat Suleiman” and a Hyundai pickup for “Mohammed Ibrahim Kalou”, and about ten motorcycles, it also seized more than 30,000 olive trees out of 40,000 trees for the villagers, and imposed a 15% royalty on the production of olive seasons for the remaining families, in addition to the theft of seasons of sumac, grapes, almonds and figs, not to mention the unfair grazing of their herds between agricultural fields.

Those residents remaining in the village were subjected to various forms of oppression, humiliation and torture, /18/ of them were arrested at the beginning of May 2018 and were subjected to severe torture, they were forced to fast in prison and break the fast with one sandwich every day, even though most of the armed men broke their fast. 

The militias impose on the owners of tractors and cars from the villagers to serve their business without payment.

The archaeological site “Wadi Al-Masara – Gelî Me’iserê”, located within the property of the citizens, “Gilo Seydou, Fawzi Ibrahim Aamek”, was dug and excavated, in search of antiquities and treasures and be stolen, in addition to the destruction of some gravestones in the village.

There is an armed checkpoint at the entrance to the village that restricts the movement of the people, in terms of entry and exit, and even restricts family visits for the remaining Kurdish residents.

= The village of “Abu Kaaba”:

It is /5/ km east of the city of Jenderes, and it is located on the banks of Afrin River, where irrigated crops and fruit trees abound, including fruits and olives. 

It consists of about /45 houses = 275 people/ – approximately 50% of them are of the Arab component (who lived in the village following the implementation of the agrarian reform law between the late fifties and early sixties of the last century); During the invasion, /5 families/ were forcibly displaced from them, and about 100 people had emigrated during the years of the war that preceded the invasion; About /35 families = 125 people/ remained in the village, and about /10 families = 100 people/ of the recruits were resettled in the homes of absentees.

During the invasion of the village by the militias of “23rd Battalion”, they stole some of the contents of a number of houses, and stole the branch of the public electricity network consisting of bipolar /1 km long/ with two electric meters feeding two agricultural houses.

The villagers have been subjected to many violations since its occupation two years ago, the young man, “Abdo Suleiman Bakir” was arrested by Jenderes-Afrin roadblock, and he was released after a year of detention in “Marateh” prison, while the arrest of two young Arabs at the time did not last long, their situation was immediately settled; Every season, the militias impose one can of olive oil on each family in the village and two cans on the agent of each absent family, except for the many thefts that take place in all seasons and for all crops; The militias also stole /25/ irrigation water sprayer for the citizen “Ahmed Shafiq” and /30/ sprayer for the citizen “Sulaiman Bakir”; The Kurds, the original inhabitants of the village, suffer from discrimination in dealing with the militias.

Also, in the late spring of 2019, the militias carried out various excavations inside the village cemetery and its shrine (the Abu Ka’ab al-Yazidi-Islamic shrine), in search of gold and found and valuable antiquities to be stolen

Many of the village tombs were vandalized, as well as parts of the shrine’s surrounding, which nonetheless preserved its general structure.

/8/ olive trees belonging to the absent citizen “Omar Bakir” were cut down, and half of the mulberry and willow trees were cut down on the river bank from the village side.

= Kidnapping and arbitrary arrests:

After some residents of the village of “Qastal Miqdad” – Bulbul returned to their homes in the spring of 2018, and at the end of the same year, the citizen “Muhammad Hassan Hassan, 55 years old”, who was working as a mathematics teacher and in the field of money exchange, was kidnapped/arrested and forcibly disappeared and his fate is still unknown until now, as his wife had initially received a call to pay a large ransom in exchange for his release, but she was unable to fulfill the request, and the husband’s news was completely cut off.

The occupation authorities also arrested:

– More than ten days ago, the two minor brothers “Joan / 15 / years / Farhad / 13 / the two sons of Abdullah Shukri Aslan” from the village of “Korkan Tahtani” – Mabata / Maabatli from their father’s house in the city of Afrin, and their fate is still unknown.

– On June 27, 2021 AD, the two citizens, “Fahim, 51 years old, and Jihad, 38 years old” sons of Nazmi Bayram, Izzat Hamid Bayram, 52 years old, and Sabri Ali, 65 years old,” from the village of “Hassan” – Rajo district. and took them to Raju Police Station.

– On June 29, 2021 AD, the citizen “Ali Jaafar son of Mirza” from the village of Shadireh – Sherawa, took him to Afrin police station and imprisoned Marateh, and released him on 1/7/2021 AD after imposing a fine of one thousand Turkish liras on him.

– On 30/6/2021 AD, the citizens “Ahmed Muhammad Hasbiro / 38 years old, Joan Hassan Musa / 30 / years old”, Othman Khalil Jerji / 35 years old” from the town of Baadina, took them to Rajo police station, and they are still detained.

– In mid-June, the citizen “Ali Muhammad Aref Hamza” from the village of “Guliya” in Rajo district center, was detained in Marateh prison for approximately 15 days, and after his release, his son, “Mohammed, 35”, was arrested in the city of Afrin and was taken to Marateh prison as well.

= chaos and disorder:

-The “Civil Defense in Afrin” confirmed that the firefighting teams on June 29, 2021 put out a fire that had been set in a forest near the town of “Kafar Safra” – Jenderes, it is also clear from previously published photos that the trees were cut down by the militants.

– On 30/6/2021 AD, clashes erupted between two groups of the “Al-Sharqiya Army” and “Ahrar Al-Sharqiya” militias, in Al-Filat Street in the city of Afrin, resulting in the injury of members of both of them.

– In the context of the chaos of carrying arms and the expansion of crimes committed, more than a week ago, a young man from among the recruits killed his sister, who is married to a man also brought from Idlib countryside and lives near the village of Shadereh-Shirawa, “for honor,” according to a local source, and also attacked the mourning tent of a deceased member of the man’s family shot with live bullets, killing three other people and wounding six in varying degrees.

– On Friday evening 3/7/2021 AD, in the town of “Maydanki” and the neighboring village of “Darwish” in Shara / Sharran district, bloody clashes took place between the militias of “Suqur Al-Shamal Brigade” – led by “Hassan Hajj Ali, nicknamed Hassan Khayriyah” – and “Alnukhba Army” -and its leader, “Brigadier Moataz Arslan”- led to the killing of one member and wounding of six others on both sides, according to local media sources, due to the dispute over the sphere of influence and the looting of public and private property.

To confront the media blackout imposed by the Turkish occupation authorities on Afrin and the lies spread by its followers, we will continue to expose, monitor and reveal the hostile practices and policies adopted towards the region and its people, and there will be no safe return for all of its displaced persons except with the demise of the occupation and its mercenaries from the militias of the Syrian-Brotherhood coalition.

03/07/2021AD

Media Office – Afrin

The Kurdish Democratic Unity Party in Syria (Yekiti)

Pictures:

-The village of Qurta – Bulbul before the occupation.

-The village of “Abu Kaaba” – Jenderes.

– A /3/m deep pit in the cemetery of the village of “Abu Kaaba” – Jenderes, antiquities theft, late spring 2019.

– Excavations and sabotage operations in the cemetery and shrine of the village of “Abu Kaaba”- Jenderes, and the theft of antiquities from it.

– The kidnapped/detained and forcibly disappeared citizen “Mohammed Hassan Hassan” from the village of “Qastal Miqdad” – Bulbul, late 2018.

-Trees near Afrin River from the direction of the village of “Abu Kaaba” -Jenderes, before cutting.

– A fire in a forest near the town of “Kafar Safra” – Jenderes, 29/6/2021 AD, and trees were previously cut down from it.

Translated by Europe’s Organization of Democratic Unity Kurdish Party in Syria (Yekîti)

yekiti