The Syrian Observatory For Human Rights

In 41 weeks of controlling Afrin, the Turkish Forces asked factions of “Olive Branch” to slow down and not to expel the population at once until pushing them to flee voluntarily

41 weeks in a row of controlling Afrin, 287 days of violations, after a series of days of intensive killing by Turkish artillery and warplanes, and gunshot by its forces and factions loyal to it, where on the 19th of March 2018, the space got wider in front of the attacking Turkish forces, through their control with their loyal Syrian opposition rebel and Islamic factions; of Afrin area, this control which caused the displacement of more than 350000 citizens in a wave of displacement among the largest waves of displacement in the country by previous military operations in different areas,

After which, the violations started in various forms, and the violators increased day after day, and they were given power by the Turkish authorities, where the trusted sources confirmed to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights that groups operating in “Olive Branch” Operation after controlling Afrin spoke to the Turkish authorities, demanding them to expel the residents of Afrin city and its countryside completely, and to confiscate their property, livelihoods, farms, homes and their contents in full, which was rejected by the Turkish authorities, the sources confirmed that they wanted the same goal but they opposed the method, telling those who wanted this decision that it will bring the international community against them, and push the whole world to intervene in favor of the Kurds inhabitants of the area, and issued their orders to wait, and that the day will come when residents of the area will ask to get out of it, and they will pay to get out of their houses and farms and leave them, which is what happened slowly, as hundreds of families who remained in Afrin have fled as a result of the escalation of violations against them of kidnapping, beatings, assaults, looting, theft, and assaulting women and girls.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitored in the recent days the escalation of violations, where the “Olive Branch” took the olive picking and compressing season as a suitable time to create pretexts for seizing the property of the remaining residents in ​​Afrin area who refused to leave it, where the sources confirmed to the Syrian Observatory that more than 45 civilians were kidnapped, including a woman and her daughter, and another woman and 3 of her children and other citizen women, where the factions who were given authority by Turkey in the area; carried out arrests against both genders, and transferred them to detention and custody centers made up of civilian homes that were seized and turned by them into headquarters for the pro-Turkey factions, which share influence and property in Afrin, and from time to time carry out looting and confiscation of property and funds, and with the abduction of more civilians it rose to about 2450 citizens, the number of arrested people including more than 900 who are still in detention, while the rest were released after most of them payed ransom imposed by members of the “Olive Branch” Operation, sometimes it reached more than 10 million Syrian pounds.

Afrin sleeps on a violation and wakes up on the sound of the weapon, and often; its lights are  only of military vehicles and the shouting of those fighting over looting, and every day the violation increases more, especially as controlling Afrin city and the entire area has entered its 9th consecutive month, since controlling it by the Turkish Forces and the rebel and Islamic factions on the 19th of March 2018, after a military operation began under the name of “Olive Branch” on the 20th of January 2018, and this operation was supported by the Turkish Grey Wolves Forces, and Turkish warplanes and helicopters, which caused damage to the property of citizens and massacres that killed about 380 civilians, including 55 children and 36 women, of the Kurdish, Arab, and Armenian civilians, tens of them were killed in mine explosions and under torture by factions of “Olive Branch” Operation, the majority of whom died in shelling by the Turkish air, artillery, and rocket shelling, and in executions of several citizens in Afrin area, and under torture since the 20th of January 2018, in addition to the injury of hundreds and the displacement of hundreds of thousands of others, while violations and inhumane practices remained as the share of the remaining inhabitants of Afrin area, who refused to leave the area, their homes, and farms to the Turkish Forces and the factions which looted, robbed, and seized, property of civilians, private and public property in the entire area of Afrin, and the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitored the confiscation of thousands of olive oil tanks and olive harvest, and the cut off of hundreds of trees and selling them as firewood, and violations in recent days took place in Kafr Sheila, Arab Oshagi, Brimja, Mirkan, Khazian, Dar Kier and several other areas in Afrin countryside.

In addition to all these violations, the trafficking of detainees is still taking place by the factions of “Olive Branch” Operation, where they are kidnapped for money to be paid for their release.

While hundreds of thousands of displaced people are still suffering from tragic situations, as a result of Turkey’s complete refusal to return the population to the area, fearing their return, while it continues the resettlement of displaced people of families of fighters working under its command, and displaced people of other areas from central and southern Syria within seized homes, in addition to imposing royalties on owners of shops and farms of oil tanks, amounts of money, or a share of the farm’s profits.

And the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights has monitored more than 140 operations targeted “Olive Branch” in Afrin area, since the Kurdish forces lost Afrin area at the end of the second third of March 2018, where it rose to 677, the number of members of the Turkish forces and the rebel and Islamic factions including 83 Turkish soldiers, and the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights documented the death of at least 1582 fighters of YPG and Self-Defense Forces, who have been killed since the start of Operation “Olive Branch”, also at least 91 of the popular members of the regime forces have been killed in the Turkish bombardment since they entered on the 20th of February 2018, while the Turkish forces have carried out about 140 assassinations and targeting against the forces controlling Afrin, while leading sources of the YPG denied that their forces or cells had relation or responsibility for many of the assassinations and acts of torture; some of which appeared on videos and attributed to the Kurdish Forces, and the sources accused other cells belong to other parties of carrying out these assassinations and attributing them to the Kurdish Forces for their own agenda, the main aim of which is to escalating their violations against the civilians, where the resentment has been increasing among the civilians day after day, with the unfair and unjust procedures, and the silence of the Turkish Forces -who are leading the “Olive Branch” operation- and not responding to their complaints.

Intersected sources confirmed to the Syrian Observatory that a military commander in Rahman Corps (who was displaced from eastern Ghouta) had an agreement with the local council in Afrin city, based on taking an area of a mountainous land located in the area between Basutah and Afrin city by the military commander, based on considering it as a “no-man’s-land” and it is not owned by anyone, and then granting 400 meters to the displaced people of the Eastern Ghouta in exchange of $100. Reliable sources confirmed that the agreement had been reached between both parties, but no displaced person has been handover anything yet.

the royalties imposed on the civilian and the people who move in Afrin area on the main and sub-roads, where varying sums of money are paid to checkpoints of “Olive Branch” Forces, who stop the small, large, public and private vehicles, and sometimes it goes beyond royalty and turn to looting, not to mention the arbitrary control of “Olive Branch” operation factions of the economic resources in Afrin- came against the backdrop of the seizure of most of the olive plantations in Afrin by the factions of operation “Olive branch”, and leasing it dealers and workers to work in them and receive money in advance as a price for the lease of these seized plantations, which are more than 75% of the area of olive farms in Afrin, after the factions shared control of olive farms.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitored a complete seizure of Afrin city by the Turkish forces and “Olive Branch” operation factions, where these factions split their areas of control and write phrases on everything being seized to prove their ownership of it, and to prevent the rest of the factions from seizing the same real estate or machine, also they burned olive plantations and property, while violations exceeded the seizure and dividing of property to carrying out daily raids of houses under the pretext of searching for weapons and sleeper cells and other pretexts, they also looted the property of houses of jewelry, money, electronic appliances, even mobile phones and furniture, while the theft moved from private property to public property, where groups of factions working in Afrin area stole electric copper cables in front of the people as well as hospitals and service institutions, while these robberies created internal clashes between rebel and Islamic factions operating in “Olive Branch” operation, which killed and injured tens of members in frequent rounds of bloody fighting, while the Turkish authorities did not engage in any kind of deterrence or pressure, but attempted to resolve disputes that may get completely out of control.

we call on the international community to work diligently to bring the inhabitants of Afrin area back to their homeland, and guarantee their lives and safety, where there is no place for them to displace to and no organization providing assistance, we also call on humanitarian and relief agencies to provide assistance that will benefit the displaced people of Afrin, and providing medical treatment to hundreds of thousands of displaced people in a narrow geographical area, we also call on the international community to press Turkey to open the checkpoints for people wishing to return to Afrin, and to control the factions that have not left anything without being looted, the factions which exercise daily violations against inhabitants of Afrin area.