Daily Beast: Warlords smuggle Syria’s Afrin olive oil to EU & US
WASHINGTON, USA (North Press) – The American Daily Beast network revealed on Monday, that the Turkana Food INC in the state of New Jersey imported Afrin olive oil that was detected in shops selling Syrian products in a number of American cities.
This came in an investigation by the network concluded that a network of Syrian warlords supported by Turkey smuggle Afrin olive oil to Europe and put it on European markets.
The investigation revealed that they sell high quality oil, which sometimes reaches Syrian stores in a number of US states.
The Daily Beast warned that the proceeds of this oil are likely to be used by Turkey to finance the attacks of the Turkish-backed Syrian armed opposition groups that occupied the Syrian Kurdish majority city of Afrin.
A number of Afrin refugees residing in US told Daily Beast that the Afrin olive oil trade brings about $ 150 million a year in profits.
They added that more than 90 percent of Afrin residents used to depend on income from their work in olive cultivation, and that any oil coming out of Afrin now would be stolen from the original farmers who have taken care of the olives for generations.
The Turkish invasion of Afrin in March 2018 led to the displacement of more than 300,000 indigenous people and the settlement of thousands of families of the Turkish-backed armed opposition groups in their homes and lands.
Afrin is considered one of the most important Syrian areas in olive cultivation, as the number of its trees until the end of 2017 reached more than 18 million olive trees, of which 16 million were in the fruiting stage until 2018.
Several people familiar with the operation told Daily Beast network that the Turkish-backed armed opposition groups extort farmers and steal their crops.
They added that these violations have intensified over the years due to President Trump’s administration turning a blind eye to the repression, looting, torture and genocide carried out by the armed opposition groups in Afrin.
They indicated that the matter reached the armed opposition groups benefiting from the oil revenues without being affected by the US sanctions imposed on Syria.
The Daily Beast reached the owner of a farm in Afrin, who said that the armed opposition groups had deprived her of her livelihood after stealing the olive season.
Since the Turkish forces took control of the region in 2018, the olive seasons in Afrin have been subjected to looting and imposing royalties, according to human rights reports.
Journalist Matthew Beatty told North Press that a team of lawyers told him that the Trump administration had not subjected armed opposition factions to sanctions despite the US Office of Foreign Assets Control’s permission to pursue human rights violators.
The author of the investigation published in the Daily Beast added that “the prosecution of the source of funding for” Turkana Food “may reveal the party that deals with the company and sells the stolen oil.
The journalist expressed his belief that information about human rights violators in Afrin and those who benefit from European and American consumers will be the focus of attention of the next Biden administration.
The American Fox News Network published a report in February 2019 accusing the Turkish government of stealing Syrian olives and exporting them in the form of Turkish oil to the European Union countries to achieve large profits.
The investigation reveals that the label included an address in Denmark registered to a Syrian-Danish businessman named Aref Hamid.
Hamid confirmed that he sourced his olives from a well-known Afrin exporter named Azad Shikho and markets them in Europe under the brand named Kafar Janna, but denied selling them to the U.S. through Turkana Food.
“Azad Shikho, the merchant in Afrin, also admitted exporting the oil to Europe under the brand name Kafar Janna. But both men denied dealing with Turkana Food, speculating that the label on the Afrin Olive Oil brand bottles could be a forgery,” according to the Daily Beast.
The journalist added that Shikho’s former business partner Suleiman Rsho, who owned a Syrian trademark for Afrin Olive Oil, but he too denied “dealing with Turks” and claimed the bottles could be forged. He blamed unknown people in Turkey for stealing his trademark.