AZAZ, Syria (North Press) – The issue of the admission of Muhammad Jassem known as Abu Amsha, the leader of the Turkish-backed faction of Sultan Suleiman Shah, to the Faculty of Law at the Free Aleppo University, is still causing controversy and indignation among students in Azaz in the northern countryside of Aleppo, northern Syria.
This issue worries the students, they fear the loss of the value of their diplomas in light of the support of local councils and educational departments run by Turkey for pro-Ankara militants.
Muhammad Al-Jassem committed crimes and violations of human rights, especially in the Afrin region, which the Turkish forces invaded with the Turkish-backed armed Syrian opposition factions in 2018, according to some reports.
In August 2018, Amnesty International released a report saying, “Afrin residents are enduring widespread human rights violations, mostly at the hands of Syrian armed groups equipped and armed by Turkey.”
Abu Amsha is known to be illiterate despite announcing that he held a fifth grade certificate when Turkey issued a military rank document for him years ago, according to opposition sources.
But recently, activists and media outlets circulated the news of his enrollment in the Faculty of Law at the Free University of Aleppo, which is run by Turkey.
The secondary certificate document was presented as proof of Abu Amsha’s eligibility for university studies.
Opening the door to corruption that cannot be closed
Mahmoud Hamadeh, (pseudonym), a student at the Faculty of Law at the opposition-run University of Aleppo, said the arrival of a secondary certificate document for the scientific branch with high degrees to Abu Amsha opening the door to corruption that cannot be closed to local councils and administrative authorities that will issue them to leaders or other members of the factions.
He added that the availability of educational certificates without a standard or real examination that highlights the qualifications of the holder will lead academic and higher education to a rock-bottom level.
“But the matter is passing here without controlling or holding those responsible for such abuses accountable.”
No more value will be expected for the certificates issued by the university, neither in the Arab world nor in European countries, which wastes the toil of thousands of students for years in vain, according to Hamadeh.
Hamadeh believes that addressing corruption and holding officials accountable for the violations were the spirit of the revolution against al-Assad regime, but the same situation prevails until now.
In July, a militant from the Sultan Suleiman Shah Division anonymously told the news outlet al-Monitor that the commander of the division, known as Abu Amsha, takes his orders for the Sheikh Hadid area which his group controls not from the Syrian National Army chain of command, but directly from Turkish intelligence.
Al-Monitor also included testimony from former and current opposition militants critical of the factions’ practices which include theft, rape, and murder, and added that many of those who blow the whistle or criticize these abuses are often stripped of Turkish residency and threatened by members of the factions.
Lots of complaints
Free Aleppo University was established in the city of Azaz in the northern countryside of Aleppo in 2015, and is affiliated with the pro-Turkish Syrian Interim Government.
The university includes 16 colleges and seven institutes, the majority of which are in Azaz and others are in the town of Marea.
In 2021, the number of students enrolled at the university reached 9,625, in addition to 437 others in postgraduate studies, according to the Department of Student Affairs at the university.
A lecturer at the Free Aleppo University told North Press on condition of anonymity for security reasons, that the university had received many complaints about the issue of its acceptance of the so-called Abu Amsha in the Faculty of Law.
However, he considered that the certificate is regular and acceptable without any doubts, because it is issued by a local council recognized by the National Army and the Interim Government of the opposition coalition.
The lecturer believed that the authority that issued the secondary certificate granted to Abu Amsha is the one to be blamed, not the university that accepted it.
He added, “We should ask them, did he really take an exam and get those grades with merit?”
He said the concerned authority is the Directorate of Education in Afrin, which is under the control of Turkey, and the leaders of the Turkish-backed factions, most notably Abu Amsha.
Academic militants
Samir al-Tawil (a pseudonym), a student in the Faculty of Education at the same university, described the matter as the continuation of the Baath ideology rooted in the minds of some influential people in the region.
He pointed out that Muhammad al-Jassem is not the only one who obtained these degrees. The leader of the Ahrar al-Sharqiya faction, Ahmad Ihsan Fayyad al-Hayes, known as Abu Hatim Shakra, is studying Political Science at Mardin University in southern Turkey.
On 28 of July, the US Treasury announced a new package of sanctions targeting the Turkish-backed Ahrar al-Sharqiya faction, as well as individuals and entities from the Syrian government.
During the Syrian war, Abu Hatim Shakra and his faction committed crimes and grave violations of human rights, most notably the assassination of the Kurdish female politician, Hevrin Khalaf in 2019, in addition to the execution of detainees, the abduction of Yezidi women and children, and having former ISIS members within the ranks of his faction.
And he holds the local councils and their members who give facilities responsible for abuses and then turn a blind eye to the follow-up after matters are exposed.
He added that corruption is not limited to accepting forged certificates of the leaders of the National Army, but rather the certificates of people coming from regime-controlled areas were accepted without verifying the credibility of their issuance.