Afrin under occupation (154)

التقرير الاسبوعي ـ عفرين تحت الاحتلال ـ 154 

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Afrin under occupation (154):

The occupied villages of “Qasha and Jala”, the destruction of a cemetery and the exhumation of the bodies of the martyrs from it, the falsification of facts, the bombing of Afrin and victims

 During the past three days, the Turkish occupation authorities have been trying, through their media, with the participation of Syrian opposition media, Brotherhood media, and the Qatari Al-Jazeera channel, to fabricate and promote the play of finding a “mass grave” in the city of Afrin for people “executed by Kurdish forces” before they left Afrin on March 18, 2018, and with an official announcement by the Turkish Ministry of Defense and the governor of Hatay province, in an effort to legitimize its invasion of the region and absolve them and their Islamist militias of war crimes and crimes against humanity committed against humans, trees and stones, and in a new attempt to blame the Kurds and their forces for terrorism and discredit them before the world.

The following is a list of some of those crimes:

= Qasha “Qaşa” village:

A small mountain village, affiliated to Bulbul district, 12 km away from its center. 

It was consisted of 50 houses and inhabited by about 300 indigenous Kurdish people only /35 families = 100 people/ remained due to forced displacement, and /15 families = 100 people/ of recruiters were resettled there, most of whom are from the Turkmens of Homs countryside.

During the aggression, ten houses belonging to the citizens: ( “Muhammad Haj Rasheed, Shaaban Mustafa, Muhammad Horik Khalil, Mustafa Shaban Mustafa, Horik Mamo Rashid, Hamid Muhammad, Muhammad Sheikhmus Kojer, Mustafa Manan Rasho, Abdo Ali Abdo, Muhammad Suleiman” ), were completely destroyed, and eight houses belonging to (“Ahmed Hamid Muhammad, Abdo Haj Rashid, Bakr Kougar, Manan Moussak, Mahmoud Mustafa, Kamal Haj Rashid, Fahim Ma’mo Khalo, Sheikhmous Omar Kojer”) were partially destroyed, in addition to the complete destruction of the village’s primary school.

The village is controlled by the “Sultan Murad Division” militia, which is led by the so-called “Abu Saeed” from the village of “Kaisin” – Homs countryside, which stole most of the contents of the houses, including supplies, copper and glass utensils, electrical equipment, gas cylinders, etc., and the cables and the public electricity network transformer, most of the olive-pressing machines for  “Mohammed Joker – Abu Bakr”, two agricultural tractors for “Chilo Sheikho, and Givara Rasho”, agricultural tools (tractor plow, trailers, and / 5/ tanks for transporting water), and a van belonging to “Yassin Sheikho”, a jeep for “Fahim Ma’mo Khalo”, a Saba taxi for “Rashu Hajj Rashid”, and a number of motorcycles.

It seizes about 15 thousand olive trees out of 25 thousand trees belonging to the people of the village, and imposes a royalty of up to 15 percent on olive seasons; Most of the grapes, sumac and almond seasons are stolen by armed men and recruiters.

It also dug and excavated the site of “Tilî Sûsê” in search of antiquities and treasures to be stolen.

During the invasion of the village, three YPG fighters fell in defense of it, and while people returned to the village the citizens: (Adnan Haj Rashid Kako 55 years old, and Fatima 70 years old -the wife of Horik Khalil) were martyred as a result of a landmine explosion in her house. ; The residents were also subjected to various violations, including the arrest of /11 citizens/ and their exposure to severe physical and psychological torture and cruel treatment, in addition to forcing them to fast and pray in prison, while their breakfast was limited to one sandwich every 24 hours.

= Jala “Cela” village:

It belongs to Rajo district and is 12 km away from its center. 

It consisted of about /80/ houses, and it was inhabited by about /350/ people, of whom about /15 families = 45 people/ only remained due to forced displacement, and about /70 families = 400 people/ of the recruiters were resettled there.

 During the aggression, /3 houses/ for “the late Hassan Ahmed – Zebeh, the late Hussein Ahmad – Zebeh, Dogan Hajj Hussein” were completely destroyed and /3 houses/ were partially destroyed. Shortly after the invasion, the “Al-Sham Legion” militia and its leader in the village called “Akal Omar – Bayanun, north of Aleppo” stole all the contents of the houses including supplies, copper utensils, electrical tools and equipment, gas cylinders, etc., an agricultural tractor belonging to “Abu Ali Hawu Khaled”, and a large amount of spare parts for cars from a warehouse for “Mohammed Abdel Rahman Ahmed”, all cables and most of the electricity grid poles.

The militias took the house of “Zainab Bilal – Shukri Mustafa previously” as a military headquarters and a prison, and the house of “Muhammad Abd al-Rahman Ahmad” as a guest house for the Legion.

It seized about /5/ thousand olive trees and /3/ thousand grape bushes, and imposed a royalty of /10-15%/ on the production of olive and other seasons, and the so-called “Akol Omar” had established a cow farm in the building of the olive-press of the citizen “Sido Askar”, and shared with the citizen “Ahmed Mustafa” his Poultry farm, and he owns a herd of sheep (about 200 heads), which grazes among the agricultural fields, he also seizes about /6/ thousand grape bushes from the property of the people of the village of “Alamdar”, which is located on the outskirts of Jala village.

The Militias continue to cut down forest trees in the mountain overlooking the village and over-cut olive trees for firewood and charcoal industry.

It imposes a security cordon on the remaining original residents of the village, by checking and searching, and restricting the movement of entry and exit from the village.

On December 2, 2019, the citizen “Hussein Abdullah Kol Dehdo, 74 years old”, was martyred in a massacre committed by the Turkish army and its mercenaries by bombing the town of Tal Rifaat – north of Aleppo, which is crowded with displaced people from Afrin.

= Destruction of a cemetery, exhuming the bodies of the martyrs, and falsifying the facts:

Since the start of the aggression on Afrin region, the Turkish army and its mercenary militias have deliberately targeted dozens of Islamic and Yazidi religious shrines, the shrines of national symbols, the cemeteries of martyrs, and others for civilians. 

The cemetery of the martyr Sido – the town of Kafar Safra / Jenderes, the cemetery of the martyr Avesta – the village of Kafar Shileh / Afrin), with the aim of distorting the history of the region, erasing the societal memory and cutting the roots of the people from their land and the sacrifices of their children; During three days 14-15-16/7/2021 AD, the occupation authorities, with the intense presence of the Turkish security and intelligence services and under heavy guard, dug up a regular cemetery known to the people in a site north of Al-Malahi Street and behind the former Afrin University building, in the city center, with heavy machinery, the bodies of /71/ civilians and Kurdish fighters who were martyred during the siege and shelling of the city of Afrin in mid-March 2018, were retrieved and transferred to the military hospital, and she said falsely that it is a “mass grave of people executed by the former Autonomous Administration forces!”.

After searching and contacting the people in Afrin and obtaining a video clip and many photos, we confirmed that the cemetery was established in mid-March 2018 by the Autonomous Administration, and it is not secret, after the intensification of the bombing and the siege of the city of Afrin and the inability to bury the bodies in the cemetery “Avesta Khabur – Kafar Shileh village” west of the city, On March 13, 2018, /32/ fighters and civilians were buried – the names of most of them are documented – and their bodies were buried in a solemn ceremony, as well as the martyrs of the Mahmoudiyah neighborhood massacre and the martyrs of “Afrin” hospital on March 16, 2018. Until mid-2019, the tombstones were visible, but they were removed by the armed men and bystanders from the recruits, and it was visited by some of the families of the martyrs.

= sporadic violations:

– A week ago, the militias of the “Al-Hamzat Division” and its leader in the villages of “Kokan Tahtani and Fawqani” – Mabata / Maabatli, called “Nuri al-Ali – Abu Sultan”, imposed a royalty of 200-1000 Turkish liras on every Kurdish family, under the pretext of protecting their property, and as in the two villages are about 60 families, i.e., a total amount of 30 thousand Turkish liras.

– On 7/11/2021 AD, the Maabatli police summoned the citizens “Jamal Abdo son of Mustafa / 34 / years old, Ahmed Hassan son of Muhammad / 25 / years old” from the village of “Kokan Fawqani” – Mabata / Maabatli, and arrested them on the grounds that the Hamzat Division militia accused them of possessing weapons, and despite having paid a ransom of about (1,000 dollars from Jamal, three thousand dollars from Ahmed) a while ago to its leader in the village.

– On June 29, 2021 AD, the “Military Police” militia arrested the citizen “Shfan Majid Naasan, 35 years old”, from the village of “Telfeh” and a resident of Afrin city, and he was released on 7/16/2021 AD.

– On the evening of Thursday 15/7/2021 AD, the city of Afrin was subjected to a barrage of missile shells, which occurred between residential neighborhoods, resulting in material damage and power outages in the city and 12 dead and wounded victims of the original residents and recruits, including the martyr “Radwan Jamil”. Suleiman / 40 / years old, from the village of “Sewiyo” – Mabata / Maabatli.

– On the evening of Sunday 11/7/2021 AD, the Turkish army bombed the town of Tel Rifaat – north of Aleppo, which is crowded with Afrin’s displaced, wounding five civilians with varying degrees of injuries: (Mohammed Walid Arab/5 years, Hevin Rashid/40 years old, Suzan Maamou 30 years old, Zainab Ahmed Arab, 40 years old, from Rajo district, and Nihad Muhammad Ali, 32 years old, from Jenderes district.

– The Civil Defense in Afrin confirmed, on 7/13/2021 AD, that its teams put out a fire in a forest in the district of Jenderes, and published pictures illustrating this, while showing the trunks of forest trees that had been previously cut down for firewood.

The blatant lies that Turkey, the Syrian-Brotherhood coalition, militias and Syrian opposition parties utter against the Kurds and the Syrian Democratic Forces, the Kurdish ones in particular, the “mass grave in Afrin” as an example, do not deceive anyone with conscience and logic, and it is ugly for a group of Kurds to dance to its tunes. 

17/07/2021AD

Media Office – Afrin

The Kurdish Democratic Unity Party in Syria (Yekiti)

Pictures:

– A collection of photos of destroyed houses in the village of “Qasha” – Bulbul.

– A collection of photos of destroyed houses in the village of “Jala” – Raju.

– A collection of pictures of the funerals of the martyrs on March 13, 2018, and the burial of their bodies, and the cemetery of the city of Afrin – mid-March 2018 – before the occupation, and another for exhumation and exhumation of the bodies from them between 14-16 July 2021 AD by the occupation authorities.

-Afrin Cemetery website, from Google Earth.

-Martyr Radwan Jamil Suleiman.

– A fire in a forest in Jenderes district, 13/7/2021 AD, showing that forest trees had been cut down previously.

– Video clip of Afrin cemetery, mid-March 2018, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4racBl53VcY

– A video clip of the funeral of the bodies of /32/ martyrs and their burial in a cemetery in the center of Afrin, 3/13/2018.

   https://www.facebook.com/227810150705865/posts/1990726417747554/

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