Turkey arrests 300 people in Syria’s Afrin during first half of 2022 – STJ
QAMISHLI, Syria (North Press) – Turkish-backed armed opposition factions, known as Syrian National Army (SNA), arrested at least 311 people in the first half of 2022, including 12 women and a child, from the predominately Kurdish city of Afrin in the northern countryside of Aleppo Governorate, said a report published by Syrians for Truth and Justice (STJ), a human rights organization.
The city of Afrin was occupied by Turkey in 2018 following a military operation called “Olive Branch” to push away the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) under the pretext of protecting Turkey’s “national security”.
The operation caused the displacement of about 300.000 of the original inhabitants of the Kurds of Afrin who have been taking shelter in 40 villages and five camps in Shahba region (northern countryside of Aleppo) since then.
Around 282 of those were released and at least two of them died under torture, according to STJ.
The non-governmental organization cited reports as saying that a detainee, who was held by Turkish-backed Ahrar al-Sharqiya faction, died from a brain hemorrhage caused by repeated blows to the head. The organization said that the other victim was tortured to death by Sham Legion, noting that 28 of those captured are still unaccounted for.
The reason behind the arrests was either ransom or racist purposes. “The arbitrary arrests in Afrin continue to intimidate the local population with the aim of prompting them to leave their homes,” STJ added.
The organizations believed the actual number of detainees to be much higher than 311, as it has no access to the SNA factions’ secret detention centers.
STJ said it had documented the arrest of more than 584 people by SNA factions in 2021.
On June 7, STJ published an extensive investigative report in which it revealed details of the demographic change process implemented in Afrin and its countryside by Turkey.