Turkey Abuses Syrians’ Rights and Restricts Their Freedom – HRW
QAMISHLI, Syria (North Press) – Human Rights Watch (HRW) released a report on Tuesday highlighting ongoing rights abuses and crimes by Turkey and Turkish-backed factions in Syrian.
Turkey last invaded and occupied parts of northeast Syria in October 2019, and has since remained in control of these areas, HRW noted.
“In May, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan threatened to launch what would be Turkey’s fourth military incursion into northeast Syria since 2016 aimed at driving out the Kurdish-led, United States-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) from areas it controls south of Turkey’s border,” the report reads.
It pointed out that the UN-led peace process, including a constitutional committee, made no progress in 2022. Russia, Turkey, the United States, and Iran continue to provide military and financial support to warring factions in Syria and to shield them from accountability.
In September 2022, the chair of the United Nations Independent International Commission of Inquiry (COI) on Syria warned that the country may again return to “larger-scale fighting”.
In June, the UN Human Rights Office announced that more than 306.000 civilians were killed in Syria between March 1, 2011, and March 31, 2021. In August 2022, the Syrian Network for Human Rights declared that around 111.000 people remain disappeared, most at the hands of the Syrian government.