Preparation underway for forum on violations in Syria’s Afrin
QAMISHLI, Syria (North Press) – Five human rights organizations are preparing to hold the second human rights forum regarding the violations committed in Afrin in the northern countryside of Syria’s Aleppo, which has been occupied by Turkish forces and their affiliated armed opposition groups for nearly three years.
January 20 marked the third anniversary of the start of the Turkish military operation in the Kurdish-majority region of Afrin.
Turkey, with its affiliated armed opposition groups, announced their formal takeover of Afrin on March 18, 2018, after 58 days of heavy fighting with the forces defending the city and the People’s Protection Units (YPG).
Mizgin Hasan, a human rights defender and a member of the forum’s preparatory committee, said that they would look into crimes and violations by the Turkish state and its affiliated armed opposition groups.
“We will discuss the legal description of the occupation in the Syrian region of Afrin,” she told North Press.
Human Rights Organization Afrin – Syria, Center for Research and Protection of Women’s Rights in Syria, Human Rights Advocacy Initiative, Human Rights Organization on Jazira and Rojava Center for Strategic Studies will participate in holding the conference.
At the beginning of May 2018, Syrian human rights organizations organized a human rights forum in the city of Amude, in which political and human rights figures from many countries participated.
The Turkish military operation in the Afrin region displaced more than 300,000 of its original inhabitants, according to the Human Rights Organization in Afrin, which confirmed in its annual proceeds that the percentage of Kurds in it does not exceed 23 percent.
On the 3rd of January 2021, The Human Rights Organization – Afrin revealed the outcome of the violations, killings, kidnappings, logging, and seizure of homes that the residents of Afrin have suffered during 2020.
Mizgin condemned the international silence regarding these crimes and held Turkey legally responsible for grave violations in Afrin region.
“The conference will come out with recommendations that will help end the occupation and the safe return of the displaced to their homes,” according to Hassan.
It is expected that human rights and political figures from different countries will participate in the forum, which will be held in northeastern Syria. Online participation will also be possible through the Zoom app.