Turkish-Backed Forces May Have Committed War Crimes in Northern Syria - U.N. Report

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"Turkey and Turkey backed Syrian factions have control of three different areas in Syria's north – the northwestern enclave of Afrin, Idlib, and Ra's al-Ayn. Grave human right violations are being conducted by Turkish-backed SNA and its affiliates in all three areas, the report finds.

According to the commission, Turkey is responsible for all individuals present in such territories, and it needs to ‘ensure public order and safety, and to afford special protection to women and children. Turkey remains bound by applicable human rights treaty obligations vis-à-vis all individuals present in such territories.’

The looting has been rampant in Afrin, which was taken over in early 2018 by the Turkish Armed Forces as well as Turkey backed Syrian opposition fighters, the report said. Civilian properties of the Kurdish people both in Afrin and Ra's al-Ayn, a northern Kurdish town was also seized by Turkey backed forces in October of 2019, being appropriated by SNA members, it says.

More than 170 women have been kidnapped by Turkish-backed rebels in Syria’s Afrin province since the start of the Turkish occupation in January 2018, including 11 more in August, and that Turkey has no intention of responding to reports of war crimes and rights violations in Afrin or northeast Syria, researcher Meghan Bodette told Ahval.

The report also allocates several pages focusing on sexual and gender-based violence in Afrin and Ra’s al-Ayn, the regions under the control of Turkish government via proxy Syrian forces.

‘During the period under review, cases of sexual violence against women and men at one detention facility in Afrin were documented. On two occasions, in an apparent effort to humiliate, extract confessions and instil fear within male detainees, Syrian National Army Military Police officers forced male detainees to witness the rape of a minor,’ the report indicates."

Read the full article by Ilhan Tanir here