Afrin ... Cutting down more than a million trees since Turkey and armed groups entered the Afrin region

ARK News: A Human Rights Organization working to document violations in the Kurdish region of Afrin reported on its main page of Facebook, today, 04.10.2020, that Since the entry of the Turkish forces with armed groups and factions into Afrin, March 2018, and until 08/30/2020, the elements of the armed militias affiliated with the Arab settlers, under the direct direction of the Turkish forces and with the complicity of the Syrian Interim Government and the Syrian National Coalition, intended the process of impoverishing the Kurdish people in the Kurdish region of Afrin, through the destruction of the economic infrastructure, whether commercial, industrial or agricultural, which constitutes the basic income of the Kurdish citizens of Afrin region.

The Organization added that the element of different armed militias cut and burn fruit and forest trees randomly, in addition to cutting trees under the pretext of establishing military headquarters and opening roads or expansion settlement complexes. Through the documentation that we have made since the entry of the Turkish forces, more than 625,000 thousand olive trees have been cut and more than 700,000 thousand forest trees have been destroyed, whether they were cut or burned.

The organization also added that in Bulbul township alone, more than 135 thousand olive trees and 90 thousand forest trees have been cut down.

In Rajo township, there are nearly 110,000 olive trees, and 90,000 forest trees have been cut down.

In Shara township, there are more than 105,000 olive trees have been cut down and almost the same number of 120,000 forest trees

In Mabata township, there are approximately 100 thousand olive trees have been cut down and burned, while the forest trees exceed the number, reaching about 150 thousand of forest trees.

In Jenderes township, there are about 75 thousand olive trees, and more than 60 thousand forest trees have been cut down.

In Shiye township there are approximately 25,000 olive trees and over 55,000 forest trees have been cut down.

As for the villages surrounding the Afrin city center and the Sherawa area, there are approximately 80 thousand olive trees and fruits that have been cut, and nearly 115 thousand forest trees have been cut and burned.

The series of violations continue in the Afrin region, which was controlled by Turkey and the armed factions and groups, on March 18, 2018, and organized chaos has spread in light of the poor security conditions and a large number of killings, kidnappings, and arrests, not to mention the looting and resettling Arab settlers coming from Syrian provinces for demographic change, in addition to cutting down olive and forest trees which destroy the environment of the region.

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