In names... Armed men and displaced Arabs steal the olive crop of the Kurds in Afrin

ARK News… At a time when farmers are impatiently awaiting the arrival of the season, the crops of a number of Kurdish farmers in areas and villages in the countryside of the city of Afrin in Syrian Kurdistan have been stolen and seized.

ARK documented the theft of the olive crop belonging to a number of Kurdish farmers in the region, by militants and displaced Arabs.

The farmers whose crops were stolen are as follows:

-Ahmed Zada Sheikh Ismail 100 trees in the village of Zaytonake - Bulbul
-Mustafa Rashid Horo, 50, in the village of Zaytonake
-Hassan Muhammad Jamili, 50, in the village of Zaytonake
-Muhammad Ahmed Horo, 35, in the village of Zaytonake
-Hassan Hamdan, 25, in the village of Zaytonake
-Walid Abdul Manan, even 10 trees from the village of Omar Simo

A second source said, "Faylaq Al-Sham gunmen picked 150 olive trees of the Kurdish citizen Haidar Hafez from the village of Kaze in the villages of Maydana in the Rajo town."

Earlier, the farmer Abdul Rahman Khaled in the villages of Maydana, while guarding his crop, was exposed to gunfire with the aim of terrorizing and fearing him and forcing him to leave the agricultural field, so that they could easily steal the crop. In the plains of the same villages, fifty trees belonging to Mustafa Adami were stolen at night.

In Shara town, in the villages under the control of the militants of Sultan Malik Shah, the faction leader, Abu Muhannad al-Hurr, imposed 12 percent of the seasonal harvest of farmers present in the town and not those absent, according to a private source.

The source confirmed that the center of the Shara district and the villages of Gobalake, Chamma, Omara, and Sinka were subject to the decision.

As the olive presses began to operate, the gunmen-imposed sums of money as a tax on their owners in different villages and towns.

Activist Mustafa Sheikho said in previous statements to ARK: Three types of taxes are imposed on Kurdish farmers in Afrin, which are:

1- The displaced people in Al-Shahba, as their entire crops and property are seized under the pretext that they are supporters of the PYD administration.

2- Refugees in Turkey, Lebanon, and the Kurdistan Region: 60 percent, with varying rates from one village to another.

3- 10 percent for farmers in Afrin.”

The activist stressed that "the farmers are suffering a terrible loss, and they are dissatisfied with the situation," appealing to the concerned authorities and parties to intervene and reduce theft and impose taxes.

Afrin is a region famous for agriculture. It includes the city center, seven towns, 360 villages, and dozens of small farms. It has more than 18 million olive trees, both fruitful and non-fruitful, in addition to many other crops such as pomegranates and other types of fruits. Since Turkey's armed factions invaded the region on March 18, 2018, the Kurds have been subjected to terrible violations, such as arbitrary arrests, seizures, and other violations.

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