The Syrian Observatory For Human Rights

Turkish media fabricate the accusations of an elderly man from Afrin to “Olive Branch” Operation and stick them to the YPG

The Turkish forces and the Syrian opposition faction, operating within “Olive Branch” Operation launched by Turkey on the 20th of January 2018 haven’t had enough with the looting of Afrin and its countryside and transferring the properties to their areas of control and premises, which they established in the houses of the civilians, who were displaced from their villages and towns. They didn’t only harass the citizens by cutting off electricity and water services in many areas and storming into houses and looting, but also they manipulated on the Turkish mass media. The SOHR received a copy of a video broadcast by Turkish TV channel, showing a TV correspondent speaking to civilians from Afrin, who speak in Kurdish saying ” we don’t want any armed scenes in Afrin, because the Free (Syrian) Army in Afrin are thefts, spoilers, and terrorists, who stole our houses and attacked our women. They rapped 3 girls under the age of 15 yesterday”, but the translator altered the translation and falsely quoted the elderly man saying “we don’t want the Kurdish Units among us in Afrin. They are strangers and came recently to Afrin and looted our properties and they wanted to harass our women”.

This alteration of the words of the people of Afrin comes in conjunction with preventing the civilians from returning to their areas in Afrin area.

The SOHR published hours ago that the international community is continuing to shut its eyes to the tragedy of the displaced people of Afrin, to ignore, with the humanitarian organizations, hundreds of thousands of the people of Afrin area, without providing them with the simplest main components needed for life, where hundreds of families are still staying in the open amid bad weather, where citizens informed the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights again that the factions operating within Operation “Olive Branch” as well as the Turkish forces, are continuing to prevent them to return, as hundreds of families, after they lived catastrophic humanitarian conditions, decided to return their villages controlled by the forces of the “Olive Branch” Operation, but the checkpoints of the Turkish forces and the factions prevented them to cross, where hundreds of citizens are still located near these checkpoints in an attempt to enter and return to their villages.

This return escalates the fears over the lives of the citizens, in the light of the absence of any international or humanitarian movement to stop this humanitarian catastrophe after intersected sources informed the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights that the arrests are still continuing by the Turkish forces and the Syrian opposition factions, against the citizens of Afrin area, of are still in their homes, as after the looting and thefts of the property and machineries of the citizens and housing in the houses of those displaced from the area as a result of the Turkish attack, intersected sourced informed the SOHR that citizens were arrested and subjected to insults by the Turkish forces, which escalated the fears of those people desire to return their homes, amid local requests and calls through the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights on the United Nations and the International parties to move and help hundreds of thousands of people displaced from their villages and those fleeing from the Turkish attack within Operation “Olive Branch”.