Turkish-backed factions excavate antiquities in Syria’s Afrin: government websites
QAMISHLI, Syria (North Press) – Turkish-backed Syrian armed opposition factions started yesterday excavation for antiquities amid systematic sabotage to the historic sites in Afrin region in Aleppo northern countryside, north Syria.
Syria’s state-run news agency SANA, quoted local sources as saying “The Syrian National Army (SNA), affiliated with Turkey, started digging and bulldozing in search of antiquities in Tel Aboush archaeological site in Afrin countryside.”
Stealing antiquities in Afrin city is carried out systematically and managed by the Turkish intelligence, which controls terrorists in that region, in order to sell them to Turkish antiquities’ dealers for small prices, SANA said.
In late November, the Turkish authorities introduced heavy excavators to the district of Maabatli to dig for antiquities with the aim to loot them, residents in the area said.
The Turkish authorities and the affiliated Syrian armed opposition factions brought heavy digging machines to Ma’mela village of Afrin region to search for antiquities, an exclusive source told North Press at the time.
The excavations started in Kali Khariba site, northern Afrin, under the supervision of the Turkish-backed Muhammad al-Fateh faction which controls the area.
Kali Khariba site is rich of ancient wells and buried treasures, according to the source.
The Afrin region includes 56 archaeological sites registered with Syrian government departments, in addition to more than 40 archaeological sites documented by the Antiquities Directorate in the Autonomous Administration of Afrin between 2014 and 2018.
In July 2019, the General Directorate of Antiquities and Museums in Syria called on international organizations, international legal and academic figures interested in culture, and all those interested in human civilization to intervene in order to protect Syria’s cultural heritage, and put an end to what it had described as the unjust aggression of the Turkish military on the archaeological sites in the Aleppo countryside.
The government statement at the time said that photos from Afrin showed the discovery of rare statues and sculptures dating back to the first millennium BC and the Roman era.
These violations are carried out in most of the archaeological sites of Afrin registered on the National Heritage List including Tel Berij Abdalo, Tel Ein Dara, Tel Jendiris, and Nebi Huri site, according to the statement.