Introduction
Turkey and its affiliated Syrian National Army (SNA) factions have occupied the Afrin region, in the northern countryside of Aleppo, since March 2018. The “Olive Branch” operation of 2018 aimed push out the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) under the pretext of protecting Turkish “national security”.
The operation caused the displacement of about 300.000 of the indigenous inhabitants of Kurdish-majority Afrin, who sheltered in 42 villages and five camps across the Shahba region, north of Aleppo.
Turkey followed a ‘Turkification’ policy in the areas it occupied, raising the Turkish flag and imposing Turkish IDs on the population, as well as the Turkish language, which was taught in schools and institutes under its control. The Turkish lira became common currency.
In addition, it built settlements in the areas it occupies, populating them with Syrian Arab IDPs and militiamen.
Turning point
The 7.8 magnitude earthquake that hit Turkey and Syria on February 6 became a turning point for the Turkish occupied areas in northwest Syria.
Turkey did not provide any support or aid to those areas in the early days of the disaster, a step that could have contributed in saving the lives of many trapped under mountains of rubble. In the aftermath of the quake, cities in the northern countryside of Aleppo and Idlib were declared disaster zones.
After the earthquake, Turkey closed the Bab al-Hawa border crossing, which connects Turkey with opposition-held areas. Only the bodies of Syrians who died under the rubble were able to enter the country. Aid and heavy earth-moving machinery did not.
Turkey did not make any efforts to help the Syrians in the regions it controls.
The search and rescue efforts in Turkish-occupied areas was limited to local initiatives until the third day after the earthquake, when an Egyptian and a Spanish team arrived at the scene. At that time, the hope of finding any more survivors had begun to fade.
It is noteworthy that Turkey later sent relief and medical aid to Syria’s northwest. 2.229 people died and 3.150 were injured, and more than 500 buildings were completely destroyed, while 2.000 more were partially damaged, according to statistics collected by the Monitoring and Documentation Department of North Press.
Ankara not only closed the sole remaining border crossing, but also blocked the entry of aid coming from areas under the control of the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES) and the Syrian government, according to exclusive sources in the Turkish-backed Syrian Interim Government and SNA factions.
The sources confirmed that the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham-linked (HTS – formerly al-Nusra Front) Salvation Government and the Interim Government (linked to the SNA) refused the entry of aid to northwestern Syria under Turkish instruction.
It is noteworthy that the AANES prepared an aid convoy of fuel tanks and humanitarian aid in the first days of the earthquake, at a time when rescue operations were ongoing and rescue teams announced that fuel had run out in Idlib due to the cessation of imports from Turkey.
In addition, the AANES announced the opening of all its crossings to humanitarian aid to be sent to Syria’s northwest, and the Secretary-General of the United Nations, Antonio Guterres, announced that the Syrian government had allowed the opening of two additional crossings, namely al-Rai and Bab al-Salam, between Turkey and the opposition areas for a period of three months, in order to facilitate aid access.
Turkey’s duties regarding its areas of control
Turkey, as an occupying and sovereign power, has certain humanitarian, political and military duties towards the regions of northwestern Syria, as well as many obligations in accordance with international humanitarian law.
Articles 55, 58, 30, and 143 of the Geneva Convention state that “the protecting power shall, at any time, be at liberty to verify the state of the food and medical supplies in occupied territories, as well as clothing, bedding, means of shelter, and other supplies necessary for the survival of the civilian population in occupied territory, and things necessary for their survival.”
However, Turkey was preoccupied by its own earthquake relief efforts and sought to save its own citizens first through dozens of Turkish and thousands of foreign specialists.
This report finds that, Turkey, by its actions and failure to fulfill its duties as the sovereign power in northwestern Syria, has contributed in creating a humanitarian crisis whose effects may extend for decades, causing the indirect death of hundreds if not thousands of people. It may have violated international humanitarian law by not carrying out its humanitarian and political duties and obligations towards the areas under its control.