“Turkey killed 176 women, detained 270 since its invasion of Afrin” – VDC-NSY
Northern Syria – North-Press Agency
The Violations Documentation Center in Northern Syria (VDC-NSY) has issued a report on the occasion of the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, which is celebrated on 25 November each year. The report documented the deaths of 120 women and the injury of 420 women since the start of the Turkish military invasion in Syria’s north-west region of Afrin on 20 January 2018, and the military campaign in northeastern Syria on October 9, 2019, until 24 November, this year.
The report included documentation of the killing of 56 women by the Turkish border guards on the Syrian-Turkish borders, who sought refuge in Turkey while while fleeing the fighting in their country, in addition to the killing of 83 children under the age of 14 out of 445 refugees killed since March 2011, the center documented the injury of 120 refugees out of 416 fleeing towards the Turkish borders.
The documentation center also revealed that Turkey and its affiliated armed opposition groups have detained 270 women out of 5,678 people in their detentions since March 2018, where the fate of half of them is still unknown. As at the beginning of November, the Turkish-backed armed groups have arrested 12 women.
At least 6 cases of torture and executions of women were documented, including the assassination of the Kurdish politician Hevrin Khalaf by Ahrar al-Sharqiya militia of the National Army. In addition to the execution of two nurses from a medical team on a road in Tal Abyad on 12 October, and capturing a female fighter from Women's Protection Units (YPJ) Cicek Kobani, who was dragged for slaughter by gunmen related to Failaq al-Majd, in addition to the mutilation of the body of a YPJ female fighter, Amara, near the town of Ein Issa.
The center documented the detaining of a Red Crescent worker, and filming a clip by “Sultan Murad” militia members, who were threatening to kill her.
The Violations Documentation Center said that on November 15, a young Kurdish girl, Roya Hanano Mustafa, from the village of Ghazawa in Afrin countryside, was kidnapped by armed men believed to be from Failaq al-Sham. It was confirmed that the girl's parents were repeatedly blackmailed and threatened by Failaq al-Sham militants, as the family accused the command of this militia of kidnapping their daughter for demanding ransom.
On November 16, the Military Police arrested a woman and three people in the city of Afrin, (Farhad Sheikh Abdi, Said Gharib Hesso and his wife Ghalia Hassan), and were taken to an unknown place, according to the center. Sherine Abdel Kader was also detained for filing a complaint against the armed opposition groups for stealing her car, that belonged to her husband Kamiran Manan Ali, who lost his life following the June 12 bombing of al-Hal market in Afrin. In the city center of Afrin, the Military Police arrested 7 people, including 6 women, (Khadija Qara Ali, Amina Qara Ali, Hayat Qara Ali, Fadela Mohammed, Fadela Krikou and Fadela Seydou). The Center said that two of them (Fadila Kreiko and Hayat Qara Ali) were later released because of their deteriorating health situation, while the other women’ fate is still unknown.