Afrin.. Turkish-backed factions impose new levies and continue sabotage and random excavation

ARK News.. Two years after Turkish forces and their Syrian proxies invaded and captured Afrin, Turkish-backed factions have been still continuing their violations, with full Turkish consent, against the Kurdish people of Afrin city and countryside who chose to stay. Even the people, who have fled this invasion, have had their property seized and looted.

The Syrian Observatory said that “Al-Jabha Al-Shamiyyah” imposed new levies after numbering shops in Mabata township in Afrin countryside, in order to collect monthly taxes.

The Observatory also said that other members of the same faction used heavy earth-moving machineries for digging and excavating archeological sites between Shitka and Kakhere villages in Mabata township, searching for antiquities.

SOHR added that Turkish-backed factions in the so-called “National Army” continue their violations against Afrin’s people in north-western Aleppo countryside.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights also added that the tragic situation in the city as a result of the practices and violations carried out by these factions against the remaining Kurds after forcing the indigenous population to flee their homes.

According to the Observatory that recent developments have prompted the Turkish government to give the green light to these factions to sell Kurdish property at nominal prices.

SOHR made clear that Turkish-backed factions or the so-called “Syrian National Army” are selling the homes of displaced Kurds those who were forced to leave their areas due to the Turkish military operation.

Houses are sold at prices ranging from $3,000 to $5,000 for two-storey homes, adding that “Turkish-backed factions in the “Syrian National Army” in the city of Afrin are wreaking havoc in the area, and have recently begun selling houses and shops or renting them as their own property.”

SOHR also added that the situation in Afrin seems as if Turkish forces gave these factions freedom to act as they please, “The Kurds are being also intimidated by these factions as part of the systematic policy of Turkey and proxy factions to force the remaining residents of Afrin to leave the area. Kurds in the area are afraid to leave their homes, especially in the evening, for the fear of being kidnapped or arrested under various pretexts.”

The Syrian Observatory affirms that Turkish-backed factions seizing the house of a Kurdish family in Afrin, alleging that the family members were affiliated with the PYD forces, although this family consisted of a deceased father, a disabled mother, and two young men detained, one of whom was detained by regime forces and the other was arrested by Turkish-backed factions, and there is only one woman left in the family.”

These violations happen regularly and have increased considerably recently. The Syrian Observatory has monitored for nearly two years, since the city brought under Turkey and proxies control, the most egregious violations against its original population in order to force them to flee and bring about a change in the demographic structure of the region change that Turkey is seeking to achieve.

These violations are not limited to looting and theft but also include arbitrary arrests, torture, confiscation of property and infringement of the rights of original people, all of which illegal under international human rights, nonetheless a total international media blackout envelops those violations.

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