Turkish minister urges US to 'take dirty hands' off Turkey

[Anthea]

Turkey’s oppression against Kurds

A report published by two Syrian rights groups on Wednesday reveals a “systematic oppression policy” by Turkey and its Syrian mercenaries against the residents of the Kurdish city of Afrin in northwest Syria, based on the testimonies of 40 victims

Kurdish forces controlled Afrin after Syrian regime forces withdrew from it in the beginning of an uprising in the country in 2011. However, Turkey and its Syrian mercenaries invaded the city in 2018, causing the displacement of hundreds of thousands of Kurds as well as committing crimes against those who stayed.

Human Rights Organization-Afrin and Syrians for Truth and Justice (STJ) on Wednesday published a joint report which is based on interviews with 40 victims of the Turkish invasion of the city. The testimonies were taken between 2021 and early 2022.

“Witnesses shared their traumatic experiences of torture and ill-treatment during their visits to detention centres. They described arbitrary arrests, cruel torture, and acts of sexual violence. Most of the arrests were made in March 2018 by the Turkish Army and allied Syrian armed groups after Turkey’s invasion of Afrin,” reads the report. “After their release, most of the victims fled Afrin towards IDP camps and safe areas in Aleppo for fear of being rearrested, as has happened to survivors who remained in Afrin.”

All the interviewed victims were Kurds, except for six Arabs. Twenty-five of them were male and the rest were females, including a young child, according to the paper.

One of the victims is a woman who says she was kidnapped by three gunmen when Afrin was invaded. She was initially taken to a detention centre in the city and then along with six other women and 37 men she was transferred to a prison in the Kilis province inside Turkey. Later, they were all returned to Afrin and kept in a military base of the mercenaries “where they saw dozens of detained women.”

The witnesses told both rights organisations that the Turkey-backed armed groups converted the homes of people into detention centres.

A female victim recounted that she was put in a communal cell where she was repeatedly interrogated for over five days. “They tortured me brutally by beating me with a four-conductor cable and gave me electric shocks. There were more than 20 women in the room, some of whom had their children with them. The prisoners insulted me and called me an ‘infidel’ because I am Yazidi and forced me to convert to Islam.”

The United Nations’ Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Syrian Arab Republic said in a report in 2020 that the residents of Afrin and Sari Kani (Ras al-Ain), which was occupied by Turkey and its Syrian proxies in 2019, “witnessed an onslaught of violations perpetrated by members of the Syrian National Army as well as shelling and vehicle-borne improvised explosive devices,” referring to the military alliance of Turkey-backed groups which was previously called Free Syrian Army (FSA).

“During the period under review, the Commission corroborated repeated patterns of systematic looting and property appropriation as well as widespread arbitrary deprivation of liberty perpetrated by various Syrian National Army brigades in the Afrin and Ra’s alAyn regions. After civilian property was looted, Syrian National Army fighters and their families occupied houses after civilians had fled, 50 or ultimately coerced residents, primarily of Kurdish origin, to flee their homes, through threats, extortion, murder, abduction, torture and detention,” reads the report.

https://www.rudaw.net/english/middleeast/syria/01022023

[Anthea]

Threat of invasion against Western Kurdistan

When we look at the violations of rights in Syria's Idlib, Azaz, Jarablus, Bab, Afrin, Serêkaniye and Girê Spî regions, which are under the occupation of the Turkish army and their mercenaries, we can imagine how a possible invasion will affect the region

In this part of our article series, we will talk about what has happened in the occupied regions, from demographic change to torture, from violations against children and women to natural destruction, and what dark future the occupation promises for these regions.

WHAT IS HAPPENING IN OCCUPIED REGIONS?

Afrin Canton: Countless crimes have been committed in Afrin, which has been under the occupation of the Turkish state and its mercenary groups for 5 years, including massacre, rape, torture and organ trafficking. In the past 5 years, 663 people have been tortured to death, 8,644 people have been kidnapped,

Kurdish names of villages, other settlements and dozens of historical places were removed, and the nature of the region has been destroyed. For 5 years, 12 hectares of gardens and forests have been burned down by the invading mercenary groups. 367,000 trees have been cut down and more than 13,500 trees have been burned. Mercenaries from different nationalities and their families replaced the settlements of more than 300 thousand people from Afrin, who were forced to migrate following the policy of demographic change.

The city of Afrin, once described as the safest region in Syria and home to those fleeing the persecution in Idlib, is currently used by the Turkish state as a testing ground for the spread of terrorism. The Turkish army has more than 50 military bases in the villages and centres of Cindirêsê, Şiyê, Raco, Mabata, Shera and Sherawa districts in the Afrin Canton. Areas that are not occupied and where refugees reside are constantly shelled from these military bases.

Serêkaniyê and Girê Spî: More than 400 thousand citizens had to migrate following the attacks that started on October 9, 2019. As the crimes committed by the Turkish state and its mercenaries increased, more people were forced to migrate. A statement made on October 8, 2022, by the Serêkaniyê Migrant Committee of North and East Syria said: “185 people were abducted. 325 people were tortured. At least 5 people were killed under torture. 92 detainees, 48 of whom received prison sentences up to 13 years and life imprisonment, were transferred to Turkey. While 11 people were executed, 56 people were killed.”

In Serêkaniye, where more than 72 explosions took place, 145 civilians, including women and children, lost their lives. More than 300 people were injured.

Other regions: There are intense violations of rights also in occupied Idlib, Azaz, Bab and Jarablus. In these regions, the Turkish state trains members of extremist groups, including ISIS and Al-Qaeda, and deploys them to various parts of the Middle East. Numerous documents were exposed by the media regarding the groups sent to Karabakh and Libya in 2020.

VIOLATIONS AGAINST CHILDREN AND WOMEN

Crimes such as torture, rape and forced conscription of children and women are frequently committed in occupied areas. Several international organizations published reports on the crimes committed in the region. In its March 2021 report on crimes against children, the Mait Law Organization in Egypt revealed that 1,316 children had been forcibly recruited.

Afrin Canton: 96 women have been tortured to death in Afrin for the last 5 years. Hundreds of women were kidnapped by Turkey-backed mercenaries and subjected to rape and torture. Children are also forcibly recruited after being brainwashed by the ideology of "radical Islam".

Serêkaniyê and Girê Spî: According to a statement made on October 8, 2022, by the Serêkaniyê Migrant Committee of North and East Syria, 511 people, 68 of whom were women and 42 were children, have been arrested and 11 women have been killed since the occupation. We also published a report on January 11, 2021, that the Turkish army provided war training to children under the age of 18 in schools in Serêkaniyê and Girê Spî under the pretext of "Mine Disposal".

Other regions: Some media outlets reported that mercenaries affiliated with the Turkish state were forcibly recruiting children in other occupied regions of Syria. The Afrin Activists Network shared documents that revealed how the Jabhat al-Shami mercenary group recruited children under the age of 18.

DEMOGRAPHIC CHANGE

Afrin Canton: Mercenaries and their families were settled in places where the displaced Afrin people lived before the invasion. The names of cities, villages, towns and neighbourhoods were changed. Turkish has become the educational and official language. Public spaces were covered with Turkish flags.

The Azadi Square in Afrin city centre was changed to Atatürk Square; Newroz Square to Salaheddin Square; the Niştimani Square to 18 March Square and the Kawa Hesinkar Square to Olive Branch Square. The name of the village of Qestel Miqdad was changed to Selçuk Tent, the village of Kotana to Zafer Tent and the Kurzêle village to Cafer Tent.

The signboard of Avrin Hospital, written in Arabic and Kurdish, was also changed into Turkish. Moreover, the signs of shops and streets are now only in Turkish. Turkish identity cards have been issued to those living in the region and the currency has been changed to Turkish lira. Schools are made affiliated to the Turkish Ministry of Education and students are compelled to wear Turkish school uniforms.

Historical places in Afrin Canton were also destroyed and historical artifacts were stolen and taken to Turkey. According to the Afrin Historical Sites Directorate, 59 historical sites were destroyed and the artifacts inside were stolen. With the financial support of the Muslim Brotherhood, more than 20 colonial houses were built in Afrin where more than 500,000 mercenary families were settled.

Serêkaniyê and Girê Spî: According to a statement made on October 8, 2022, by the Serêkaniyê Migrant Committee of North and East Syria, “more than 85 percent of the residents of Serêkaniyê could not return to their homes, and 2,500 migrant families replaced the original residents. 55 Iraqi ISIS families were resettled in the confiscated houses in Serêkaniyê. After the occupation, more than 5,500 houses and more than 1,200 shops were confiscated in the two occupied regions. 55 villages were evacuated. More than one million acres (100 thousand hectares) of land were confiscated.

Til Xelef, the first city settlement in history, dating back to 6000 BC., was destroyed. There is also information that excavations were carried out in religious places and churches.

Turkey and its mercenaries stole a huge number of historical artifacts during the excavations in the historical places called "Medinet El Faw" and "El Sebi El Ebyed".

WHAT WILL NEW OCCUPATION ATTACKS BRING?

Turkey occupied the cities of Jarablus, Bab and Azaz after a military operation dubbed 'Operation Euphrates Shield’ on August 24, 2016, Afrin after a military operation dubbed 'Operation Olive Branch' on January 20, 2018, and Serêkaniyê and Girê Spî after a military operation dubbed 'Operation Peace Spring' on October 9, 2019.

The Turkish state has deepened the Syrian crisis in its 7-year occupation. Under the spell of Neo- Ottoman ideology, the Turkish state seeks to create a terror country in line with its own interests by disrupting the stable, peaceful and secure environment in North and East Syria.

The invasion of another region by the Turkish state, which has been threatening North and East Syria since June 1, means that new serious violations of rights will emerge. The Turkish state has not been held accountable for the crimes it has committed so far. On the contrary, the indifference to Turkish aggression paves the way for new crimes. The peoples of North and East Syria develop their self-defence mechanism so that what is happening in the occupied regions does not permeate into these regions.

[Anthea]

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US take your dirty hands off Turkey

Ankara accuses a number of Western nations of failing to comply with their obligations, urging Washington to stop trying to incite against the country

Turkish Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu accused the United States of ruling Europe and urged Washington to stop trying to stir up his country in light of the recent developments within the country

Meanwhile, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu accused some Western countries that had closed down their consulates in the country for security reasons of failing to comply with their allied obligations.

"Every US ambassador asks themselves how they can harm Turkey. It has been one of Turkey’s greatest misfortunes for years. They gather other ambassadors and try to give them advice. They do the same in Europe as US embassies run Europe," the Turkish interior minister noted.

"They thought about how they could project this onto Turkey but there is one person who spoiled their little game, and that is [President] Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Here, I’m telling the US ambassador that I know the journalists that he gave assignments. Keep your dirty hands off of Turkey. I know for sure what steps you took and how you plan to stir Turkey up," Soylu added.

Cavusoglu called the closure of western consulates "deliberate," adding that the Western countries had not shared what they meant by "security reasons."

"Why did they close their doors?" asked Cavusoglu at a news conference in Istanbul with his Argentine counterpart Santiago Cafiero. "They say there's a terrorist threat. Now if there’s a terrorist threat, shouldn't they – especially if they are allies – tell us where this threat originated from?"

"They tell us, 'We have concrete information, there's a threat. That's why we're closing.' Who did it come from? Where? Who will do it? There's no information about that," he explained.

"They must share this information with us, that is, to our security units, to our intelligence units, and if there is such a threat, it must be eliminated before it turns into an attack."

The two ministers' remarks came after Ankara summoned the ambassadors of Western countries, including the US, to criticize their decision to temporarily shut diplomatic missions and issue security alerts following the recent burnings of the holy Quran in Europe.

Following a string of Quran-burning demonstrations in Northern Europe, Sweden, the Netherlands, Germany, France, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom all halted operations at their consulates in Istanbul this week, citing security concerns. Furthermore, travel advisories were issued by the US and numerous other countries.

The Turkish Interior Minister claimed that when his nation opposed the sacrilegious act of Quran burning in Sweden, Denmark, and the Netherlands, the West was waging "psychological warfare" against his country.

Turkey increased security measures to protect missions

Cavusoglu denounced the Western countries' attempts to try to make Turkey look unstable or give the impression that there is a terrorist threat in the country.

"This does not suit friendship or alliance," he said.

If they are trying to get Turkey into a difficult situation before the general elections, Ankara knows very well what is behind it, he added, stressing that Turkey expects honesty, and the countries should not serve the "insidious" agendas of terrorist groups.

The Interior Ministry has increased security measures in the country after the recent burning of the Quran, because "our obligation is to protect these missions", Cavusoglu added.

"But we also see some European countries that have nothing to do with this incident, and they are also closing (their consulates). In other words, we also know that some countries are telling others to join this closure action. We also have such information," he added.

Turkey has issued the needed warning, Cavusoglu said.

"After that, if they resort to such methods without sharing concrete information and documents, there will be additional steps we will take towards them."

https://english.almayadeen.net/news/pol ... off-turkey

At last a leader has had the strength to tell the US to take dirty hands off their country, I wish other countries would do the same