Afrin under occupation (189)

التقرير الاسبوعي ـ عفرين تحت الاحتلال ـ 189

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Afrin under occupation (189):

“Qara Gul” village – demographic change and massive appropriation, arbitrary arrests, a new model settlement village, banning of an art exhibition, cutting down forests
With the expansion of the construction of model settlement villages to house and entrust the recruits to Afrin, the hostile aims of the Turkish occupation against the Kurds in Syria, in which the Syrian militias and the Syrian-Brotherhood coalition and its interim government were involved, are once again revealed.
The following are various violations and crimes:
= Village “Qarah Kul-Qirigol”:
It is administratively affiliated to Bulbul district, and it is /31 km/ north of Afrin city, and it consists of about /210 houses/ in which about /1300 people/ -of the original Kurdish population- lived, of whom about /110 families = 420 people-most of them are elderly/ remained in the village after the invasion, while the others were forcibly displaced, and about / 200 families = 1,200 people / of the recruits were resettled in the village, as they live in the seized houses, and in /40 tents/ set up in the vicinity of the village.
The village is controlled by the militias of the “Sultan Murad Division and the Hamzat Division”, and they use three houses of “the late Ahmed Hamo and the villa of his son Salah Hamo, Mohammed Yassin Ahmed” as military headquarters.
As a result of the war operations, three houses were partially damaged; The militias stole most of the contents of the houses, including supplies, furniture, copper utensils, tools and electrical equipment, etc., /2/ microbus for “Majid Muhammad Jabo, Muhammad Jabo” and / 2 agricultural tractor/ for “the family of the late Bilal Muhammad Bako, Majid Muhammad Jabu”, and a transformer of the public electricity network cables, drinking water meters, all drinking water pumping station equipment, all olive-pressing machines and an electric generating set (amperes) belong to Bahri Taher.
It also seized the property of all the absentees, which is estimated at about /13/ thousand olive trees, including those belongs to: “Awlad Taher Omar, Habash Ahmed Deko, Arif Ahmed Deko, Hanan Ahmed Deco, Anwar Hassan Seydou, Mohamed Bilal Bako, Bilal Mohamed Bako, Khaled Bako.” Shawkat Yassin, Othman Muhammad Sido, Rashid Maamo Hasso, Bakr Akash Khalil, and the children of the late Muhammad Dalu,” and a /10-20% royalty/ was imposed on the production of the properties of those present, except for cases of random theft of olives from the fields; This year, it cultivated the lands of the seized fields with lentils, galbanum and others, which will lead to the deterioration of olive trees.
The remaining residents of the village were subjected to various types of violations and crimes, including killing, kidnapping, arbitrary arrests, torture, insults, material extortion and others.
Ten days after their invasion of the village on March 14, 2018, the militias gathered men, youth and minors in the village square, insulted them and fired Live bullets near them and above their heads, in addition to hitting most of them, and as a result of that terror the citizen “Sheikhmus Alo / 75 years” and he became dumb.
Subsequently, dozens were arrested for various periods with financial fines imposed, and the fate of the forcibly disappeared detainee, “Nuri Ibrahim Jabo / 43 years old” since early April 2018, is still unknown. The late “Rustom Akash Khalil, 49 years old” was kidnapped on 10/15/2019 by a masked armed group, who released him after a day of torture and confiscation of his modern Hyundai pickup truck, he contracted cancer after suffering from harsh conditions due to that he was forced to emigrate to Aleppo on 3/5/2021AD, to die there on 28/5/2021AD.
Among the village’s civilians, the citizen “Firdous Seydou daughter Muhammad, 64,” and her grandson, the child, “Mohammed Bako son of Aref, 12 years old”, were martyred in the massacre of the Mahmudiya neighborhood in Afrin as a result of the Turkish bombing.
The militias unfairly cut down thousands of olive trees, the forest overlooking the village in Hawar mountain, and the pine trees “Markhi Bakr” opposite the village junction, for the purpose of firewood and trade.
It also completed the destruction of the Islamic “Madwar” shrine after it was bombed during the aggression, and dug it in search of buried treasures and stole them, and also stole the reinforcement steel of the roof of the shrine building, and the trees surrounding it were also cut down.
The owners of tractors from the village are sometimes have to secure drinking water for the houses of the militia members, as well as those who were resettled in the village without being paid, not to mention the frequent robberies of some village houses, such as the house of the old widow “Sadiqa Hanan”.
= Arbitrary arrests:
The poccupation authorities arrested:
– On 22/2/2022 AD, the minor “Ayaz Hassan Zalkhukou / 14” from the town of “Baadina”, from the house of one of his relatives in the city of Afrin, he was arrested by the “Military Police”, and his fate is still unknown, without us being able to know the reasons.
– On 27/2/2022 AD, the citizen “Najdat Khalil Omar / 72 years old” from the village of “Shurba” – Mabata / Ma’batli, on 27/2/2022, was arrested by the police, for a period of four days, with the imposition of a fine, on the pretext of his participation on the night watch during the previous Autonomous Administration.
– On 2/3/2022 AD, the citizen “Muhammad Nuri Muhammad / 37 years old” from the village of “Qeybareh”, by the armed “Al-Qaws” checkpoint – the eastern entrance to the city of Afrin, and his fate is still unknown, and without being able to know the reasons, He works as a tractor driver for the local council.
– On 3/3/2022 AD, the young man “Muhammad Muhammad Osu” from the village of “Kakhreh” – Mabata / Maabatli, was arrested by the Turkish intelligence, and the two young men “Luqman Nuri Mustafa and Mahmoud Ahmed Haji” from the same village, by the armed checkpoint at the entrance The city of Jenderes, without being able to know the reasons, and their fate is still unknown.
– On 6/3/2022 AD, the citizens “Joan Aref Mesteh son of Adnan / 32 years old – from the village of “Hajj Hasna” -he was previously detained-, and Givara Hussein Ammo / 37 years old – from the village of “Jaqaleh Jumeh” from the city of Jenderes, and their cars were seized by the Turkish intelligence – and the armed checkpoint at the entrance to the city of Azaz, accusing them by the relationship with the former Autonomous Administration, while they were heading there with the intention of buying some necessities.
– On 6/3/2022 AD, the citizen “Aref Muhammad Hamdoush / 50 years old” from the village of “Kafar Janeh” – Shara / Sharran, was arrested by the “Military Police in Azaz”, on charges of having ties with the former Autonomous Administration in Afrin, as the citizens “Yakbon Othman Ali / 40 years old, and his brother Khondavan Othman Ali / 36 years old, Ibrahim Rashid Hamdoush / 38 years old” from the same village and who have been detained since early October 2021 AD, are in arbitrary detention on unfair charges.
= Project of a new model settlement village:
The administration of the so-called “housing project for the displaced of Al-Bukamal” announced on its Facebook page that it had begun leveling the land and dividing it and opening roads for the construction of houses on /112/ property, each one of them has an area of /400/qm, within the “Al-Barakah Gathering” which is located within the “Al-Dahiya Al-Shamiya” project that is being implemented on a land granted by the “Local Council” with an area of 20,000 acres for free, which was divided into sectors, and it is /10 km/ east from Afrin and extends from the vicinity of the destroyed and abandoned village of “Khalta” in Mount Lilon to the site overlooking the village of “Korzeleh” – Sherawa; This is for the purpose of ownership, and made it clear that some of those registered in the project reside in Turkey and that most of the participants’ material and living conditions are good, and that she obtained official approvals from the “Local Council in Afrin” and the Turkish governor.
It is noteworthy that within this suburb, the village of “Kuwait Al-Rahma” was opened on August 30, 2021 AD, which includes /380/ apartments, a mosque, a school, a clinic, an institute for memorizing the Qur’an and a commercial market, in order to settle and own the new recruits.
This is in the context of a systematic plan to build model settlement villages in the region and bring about sustainable demographic change against its Kurdish people and indigenous population.
= Banning an exhibition of paintings on early marriage:
On 2/3/2022 AD, the Azm Chamber militia canceled the “Artistic Paintings” exhibition prepared by the “Women’s voice initiative” under the title “I’m still a little girl – No to early marriage” and invited to attend it between 2-4 March in the “Youth Hall” above “Abu Imad” bakery in Afrin city, which aimed to “raise awareness of the dangers of early marriage and embody its psychological, physical and social effects,” according to the organization, based on an invitation from the Ifta Department in Afrin, which is directly supervised by the Turkish Diyanet Endowment. Which clarified in a statement dated 3/3/2022 AD that such activities “aimed at spreading ideas and opinions that are far from our religion, morals and customs…” and that it is a “missionary call” that negatively affects society, and called on the responsible authorities to stop the work of such an organization; And local sources added that the artists participating in the exhibition and its organizers had received threats from extremist militants and activists, as the “Syrian Youth Network” hosting the exhibition called on the responsible authorities to protect the safety of its members.
On the same date, March 3, the “College of Education in Afrin/Gaziantep University” held a symposium entitled “Marriage between Science, Media and the West,” in which three lecturers presented their ideas and were provided with interventions from the audience, claiming that the Western media was trying to “distort marriage from its legitimate purpose and concept.” And that “marriage is not determined by a specific age,” and there is “a suspicious role for some organizations in introducing misconceptions about marriage and restricting it to a specific age through attractive titles that tickle feelings to prevent family building on sound foundations and encourage illegal relationships,” according to the college’s page.
Banning the exhibition comes in the context of the spread of an extremist religious movement and the continuation of its various activities, as Baraem al-Jana Kindergarten, “Number 20 in Jenderes and 21 in Afrin”, was opened in the presence of an official Turkish religious delegation last month, as an example. The Department of Immigration and Moral Support Services in the Turkish Presidency of Religious Affairs, on March 4, has religious facilities in the city of Afrin to determine their conditions and ways to support them; So that in every village, no matter how small, there is a mosque and an institute for memorizing the Qur’an and other religious institutions, with courses and successive lectures being held, honoring and motivating its students.
It is noteworthy that the phenomenon of early marriage and polygamy is widespread among the recruits in the region, and is unfamiliar in the local community/indigenous people, especially since the former Autonomous Administration strictly prohibited the marriage of girls under the age of 18 and polygamy.
= Forest cut:
By comparing two photos taken by Google Earth of a natural forest in the village of “Mest Ashura”- Mabata/Maabatli, with an estimated area of / 21 / hectares, in (July 2018 AD before cutting, August 2020 AD after the occupation and cutting), we find that the percentage of cutting is 80%.
And between two pictures of a natural forest south of the village of “Kakhreh” – Mabata / Maabatli, with an estimated area of /46 / hectares, in (July 2017 AD before the occupation and cutting, and August 2020 AD after the occupation and cutting), we find that the percentage of cutting is up to 50%.
Considering that the cutting has continued from the second date until now (more than two and a half years), the two forests have been almost completely exterminated.
= Other violations:
– After the aggression and occupation of the area, and the targeting of most drinking water pumping stations with bombing and massive thefts, the level of services for that infrastructure declined, and the population faced great difficulties and additional financial costs. Although associations participated in re-equipping and operating some of them for intermittent periods, they were again robbed or exploited by militias; Among them is the “Marateh” village station, from which the “Al-Hamzat Division” members stole its electrical cables and some of its equipment after the association stopped supporting it, so it went out of service about seven months ago.
These housing projects are outside their humanitarian framework and enter the crime scene against an essential component of Syria, as long as they lead to a demographic change against the existence and role of the people of the region.

12/03/2022AD

Media Office – Afrin
The Kurdish Democratic Unity Party in Syria (Yekiti)

Pictures:
– The “Madwar” Islamic shrine, the village of “Qarah Gul” – Bulbul, before and after the occupation, bombing, complete destruction and cutting down of its trees.
– Drinking water pumping station, Qara Gul village – Bulbul, before the occupation and the theft of all its equipment.
– An olive press by “Bahri Taher”, the village of “Qarah Gul” – Bulbul, before the occupation and the theft of all its machines.
– The forcibly disappeared detainee, “Nuri Ibrahim Jabo”.
– The late “Rustom Akash Khalil”.
-The two martyrs, “Firdaws Seydou daughter of Muhammad, and Muhammad Beko son of Aref”.
– “The housing project for the displaced people of Al-Bukamal” – Al-Baraka pool, Mount Lilon.
– Invitation card for the exhibition “I’m still a little girl – No to early marriage”.
– Statement of the Iftaa Department in Afrin about the activities of organizations.
– A symposium on “College of Education in Afrin / Gaziantep University” on marriage.
– Opening of the “Baraem Al-Jana 21” Kindergarten in Afrin.
– Ahmet Sunichi, Head of the Immigration and Moral Support Services Department at the Turkish Presidency of Religious Affairs, visited on March 4 this year, religious facilities in the city of Afrin.
– A natural forest in the village of “Mest Ashura” – Mabata / Maabatli in (July 2018 AD before the cut-off, August 2020 AD after the occupation and the cut-off).
– A natural forest south of the village of “Kakhreh” – Mabata / Maabatli in (July 2017 AD before the occupation and exclusion, August 2020 AD after the occupation and exclusion).