RÛBARÎN BEKIR

Shahba-Women and children in the areas occupied by the Turkish state and Turkish-backed factions in North and East Syria are subjected to many rights violations such as rape, kidnapping, forced marriage and all forms of violence. Afrin was occupied by the Turkish state and Turkish-backed factions in 2018 and since then the people of Afrin, especially women, have faced inhuman crimes.

Since the beginning of 2023, more than 33 women, including four girls and three old women, have been kidnapped in Afrin, according to the Afrin News 24, an online news agency. The news agency also says that six women have been killed; seven women, including four girls have been raped in Afrin.

On the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, NuJINHA spoke to Zeynep Süleyman, member of Afrin-Shahba Assembly, about the ongoing rights violations and violence against women and girls in Afrin.

‘The Turkish state saw the resisting women as a threat’

Indicating that the revolution in Rojava is a women’s revolution, she said, “Following the revolution, many women’s organizations and centers were opened to provide support to women for improving themselves. In Afrin, women achieved many gains; however, the Turkish state saw the gains of women and the resisting women in Afrin as a threat. For this reason, it attacked and still attacks women.”

‘Silence is the confirmation of the crimes’

After the occupation of Afrin, the nature of the city was plundered and the people were subjected to torture. Zeynep Süleyman criticized the silence of the international community against the rights violations in Afrin. “The people of Afrin were openly attacked. Despite the documents proving the crimes committed by the Turkish state and Turkish-backed factions in Afrin, the international community still remains silent. Silence is the confirmation of the crimes committed in Afrin.”

‘The Turkish state must be held responsible for its crimes’

"Women in Afrin cannot go out due to rights violations against them,” Zeynep Süleyman said, “They make great efforts to make the atrocities committed by the Turkish state heard all around the world. The Turkish state should be held responsible for its crimes against women in Afrin. I call on all women to struggle so that the Turkish state can be held responsible for its crimes against women in Afrin.”