Kurdish parties condemn daily crimes and violations in Afrin

North-Press Agency

On Sunday, the Kurdish Progressive Democratic Party of Syria (PDPKS) and the Yekiti Kurdistan Party in Syria (PYKS) condemned the daily violations and crimes committed against Kurdish civilians in Afrin, demanding the formation of an independent international fact-finding committee in the field.

This condemnation came in a joint statement of the PDPKS published on its official website, which said that Turkish forces and its affiliated armed opposition force remaining residents to leave in order to impose demographic change in Afrin and its countryside, replacing them with tens of thousands of jihadist families, in conjunction with the Turkification policy.

In regards to what occurred last weekend in Afrin, the statement said that the groups arrested Kurdish women and brought them to secret detention centers, humiliating them with the knowledge of Turkish occupation forces, who did not carry out their duties regarding civilians’ lives and the protection of their dignity according to international laws and norms.

The statement appealed to all Syrian political forces and local and international human rights groups, well as international parliaments and governments, to condemn the violations against and extermination of Kurds in Afrin.

Since March 18, 2018, Turkish-backed groups have carried out violations and abuses against Afrin residents, such as forced displacement, kidnapping, financial extortion, field executions, and the resettlement of settlers in local residents’ homes, which are all documented by international reports, videos, and photos published by human rights organizations and local media.