RÛBARÎN BEKIR

Shahba- Since the Turkish Armed Forces and Turkish-backed factions occupied the city in 2018, thousands of the people of Afrin have been displaced to the Shahba Canton while the people who stay in Afrin have been detained and tortured, their houses and businesses have been looted and confiscated.

 R.C., a Yazidi woman, is from the village of Basoufan of Afrin’s Sherawa district. She fled to the Shahba canton after she was arrested by the Turkish forces and its mercenaries in Afrin.

‘They consider that the Yazidis are infidels’

In the interview with NuJINHA, R.C. said, “Since the first day of the occupation of the Afrin region by the Turkish state and its mercenaries, Afrin residents have been subjected to inhuman practices and rights violations. They been detained, kidnapped, tortured and raped. Our olive trees have been cut down and the holy places of the Yazidis have been destroyed. The Turkish state and its mercenaries have committed many rights violations in Afrin to displace us from our hometown. The Yazidis living in Afrin are subjected to more rights violations because the Turkish forces and its mercenaries think that the Yazidis are infidels and that they have the right to kill us.”

 

She added, “During the five years of the Turkish occupation of Afrin, there has been no security, stability, and peace in Afrin. The Turkish state seeks to build a new area in order to impose the policy and ideology of the Ottoman Empire again. It has begun to build buildings after pulling down all houses, including historical sites in Afrin.”

 

‘Women of Afrin are subjected to violations’

 

Emphasizing that the women in Afrin are most affected by rights violations and inhuman practices by the Turkish forces and its mercenaries, R.C. said, “The women of Afrin are subjected to the violations that the women of Shengal were subjected to. I saw an 8-year-old girl being raped by the mercenaries. They also raped a 70-year-old woman. The crimes and rights violations committed by the Turkish state and its mercenaries prove that they are not different from ISIS.”

Talking about the situation of children in Afrin, she said, “Children are deprived of all their rights in occupied Afrin. They are also killed, detained, kidnapped, tortured and raped. The mercenaries kidnap children with their mothers so that their mothers see what they do to their children.”

 

‘The human rights organizations must break their silence’

 Pointing out that the mercenaries also loot and confiscate the houses and businesses, she said, “The mercenaries legitimize themselves to get everything they want under false pretexts. They have confiscated our agricultural lands, houses and shops. The people of Afrin suffer from injustice. Although many press outlets and journalists have revealed the crimes and rights violations committed in Afrin by the Turkish state and its mercenaries, the international community and human rights organizations remain silent. They must break their silence against these crimes.”

 

‘I was arrested twice’

 R.C. fled from Afrin after she was arrested twice. “I was arrested twice by the Turkish forces and its mercenaries. I was taken to a place where there were 60 women and many children. We were subjected to psychological and physical torture there. I saw women being raped by them. I decided to flee from Afrin because I could not bear the rights violations and crimes committed by the Turkish state and its mercenaries anymore. I came to Shahba because it is a safe place for women. The people in Shahba support us and provide us with what we need.”

 Calling on the international community and human rights organizations, R.C. to send delegations and press outlets to Afrin in order to document and uncover the rights violations and crimes committed by the Turkish state and its mercenaries in Afrin.