YPJ: Sentencing of Cicek Kobane violates international law
HASAKAH, Syria (North Press) – On Friday, the general command of the Women’s Protection Units (YPJ) said that the ruling against its fighter Cicek Kobani is “a gross violation of international humanitarian law and the law of armed conflict committed by Turkey.”
Last Tuesday, a Turkish court sentenced Dozgin Temmo, a former volunteer in the ranks of the Syrian Democratic Forces, known as “Cicek Kobani,” to life in prison.
YPJ said in a written statement that “their fighters were illegally transferred and tried without committing any offense on the Turkish state’s territory or against one of its citizens, or causing any damage to its property.”
Temmo was transferred to Turkish territory after her arrest on October 21, 2019, during an attack by the Turkish-backed Syrian armed factions on the cities of Tel Abyad and Sere Kaniye in northeast Syria.
YPJ’s general command added that the “capture operation took place during an international armed conflict, which gives her the right to benefit from all international laws and norms recognized for the right of prisoners of war, as she is also considered protected under international humanitarian law.”
They also called for treating her according to these norms.
Mizgin Hassan, head of the Center for Research and Protection of Women’s Rights in Syria, said on Friday, “Dozgin’s trial is unfair because she did not fight Turkey on its territory.”
YPJ called on “the members of UN to condemn Turkey for committing such violations, and to demand the immediate release of all Syrians unlawfully detained there.”
In early February, Turkish authorities sentenced two young men from the city of Sere Kaniye (Ras al-Ain) northeast Syria to 20 years in prison after they had previously been arrested in Syria and transferred to prisons inside Turkey.
On February 3, Human Rights Watch said that Turkey transferred Syrian citizens it had arrested in Syrian territory to Turkey, which violates its obligations as an “occupying power in northeastern Syria” under the Fourth Geneva Convention.
The Four Geneva Conventions and their protocols of 1949 prohibit an occupying country from transferring groups or individuals to its own territory, regardless of the reason.
YPJ consider the ruling against Cicek Kobani “a revenge for our defeat of ISIS, which was supported by Turkey.”
“Issuing this ruling is not by accident when all people are celebrating the anniversary of the Islamic State’s (ISIS) expulsion from the last strongholds in the town of Baghouz,” they added.
On March 23, 2019 the Syrian Democratic Forces took control over ISIS’ last stronghold in Baghouz in Deir ez-Zor countryside, east Syria.