US State Department and Pentagon say Turkish-backed militias abuse human rights in northeastern Syria

Hisham Arafat

 

WASHINGTON DC, US (North Press) – Turkish-supported opposition groups (TSO) may have violated the laws of armed conflict or abused human rights in northeast Syria, said a recent quarterly report by the US-led coalition against the Islamic State (ISIS) to the United States Congress.

 

The report, covering the period April – June 2020 and prepared by the Inspectors General of the Department of Defense (DoD), Department of State (DoS), and U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), stated that Turkish-backed militias committed a series of violations in northeast Syria.

 

The DoS said it received multiple reports of TSO abuses in the Turkish incursion area, among them “arbitrary detentions, extrajudicial killings, seizure of and resettlement of new populations in private properties, the repeated and deliberate shutting off of water access to half a million civilians, and transfer of arbitrarily-detained Syrians across an international border into Turkey.”

 

The DoS continued to raise these alleged violations with Turkey and to press for credible and transparent investigations of the allegations and for those responsible to be held accountable, the report stated.

 

The United States has not sanctioned any TSOs in response, although the Executive Order on Syria-related sanctions provides authority to do so if certain criteria are met, according to the DoS.

 

The DoS also stated its concern regarding reports of human rights abuses in Afrin, including the desecration of several Yezidi shrines, kidnapping for ransom of Yezidi and Kurdish women, and looting and vandalizing of homes and archaeological sites.

 

The DoS told DoS OIG that “as we do not have a presence on the ground, we are not in the position to confirm these reports, but many appear to be credible.”

 

The DoS said it raised the issue of alleged human rights violations or abuses and violations of international humanitarian law with officials at high levels of the Turkish government: “We have reiterated our expectation that Turkey, and the Syrian opposition, investigate alleged violations and abuses and promote accountability where appropriate.”

 

The report also stated that Turkey will not launch more military operations in northeast Syria.

 

"The Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) said it has not seen any indications that Turkey is preparing to renew or expand military operations in northeastern Syria against the YPG at this time."

 

Several human rights organizations and media outlets have documented multiple credible claims that since the occupation of Afrin began in March 2018, Turkish-backed armed groups have regularly committed various violations and war crimes, primary among them ethnic cleansing, kidnapping, extortion, murder, rape, and the looting and destruction of property.

 

In February 2019, the United Nations’ Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Syria released a report charging that armed groups in Afrin were guilty of war crimes, including “hostage-taking, cruel treatment, torture, and pillage.” It stated that “the most common violations perpetrated in Afrin involved frequent abductions by armed groups and criminal gangs.”

 

In October, the Turkish army and their affiliated Syrian rebel groups known as the Free Syrian Army (FSA), later changed to Syrian National Army (SNA), launched a military operation and pushed the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) from the border towns of Sere Kaniye and Tal Abyad, leading to the deaths of about 500 civilians and the displacement of about 300,000 people.