BFF-03 Amnesty accuses Turkey of tolerating Syrian rebel abuses in Afrin

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SYRIA-CONFLICT-TURKEY

Amnesty accuses Turkey of tolerating Syrian rebel abuses in Afrin

ISTANBUL, Aug 2, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – Amnesty International on Thursday accused
Turkish forces of allowing Syrian armed groups to commit major rights abuses
in the northern region of Afrin, urging Ankara to immediately end the
violations.

Turkey and allied Syrian rebels seized control of Afrin earlier this year
after a military operation which ousted a Kurdish militia that is an ally of
the United States but Ankara regards as a terror group.

Amnesty said that, since the takeover, residents in Afrin had been
“enduring a wide range of violations” which Turkish armed forces “turned a
blind eye” to. “These violations include arbitrary detentions, enforced
disappearances, and confiscation of property and looting to which Turkey’s
armed forces have turned a blind eye,” Amnesty said.

Some of the Syrian groups as well as Turkish armed forces have taken over
schools, Amnesty claimed, which it said disrupted education for thousands of
children.

Amnesty said residents told them that Afrin University was “completely shut
down after it was destroyed and looted”, adding only one school in Afrin city
was accessible.

The rights group said that when contacted for comment, the Turkish
government questioned its impartiality for using the terminology of Kurdish-
dominated forces to describe regions.

Turkey says the People’s Protection Units (YPG) militia it ousted from
Afrin is an offshoot of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) which has waged an
insurgency in Turkey since 1984.

The PKK is blacklisted as a terror group by Ankara, the US and the European
Union.

In the case of one woman, her uncle has been missing since an armed group
escorted him to his house after he returned to his village three months
earlier.

“They wouldn’t tell his wife where they took him,” the unnamed woman told
Amnesty, denying the man, head of a local committee, had any links to the
YPG.

Amnesty said some homes have been “occupied” by displaced families from the
central Homs province and the southern area of Eastern Ghouta which was
recently recaptured by the Syrian regime.

Lynn Maalouf, Amnesty’s Middle East research director, said the Syrian
armed groups continued to “wreak havoc on civilians, unchecked by Turkish
forces”.

She argued Turkey was responsible for the welfare of civilians as well as
maintaining law and order since it was the “occupying power” in Afrin.

“Without further delay, Turkey must end violations by pro-Turkish armed
groups, hold perpetrators accountable, and commit to helping Afrin residents
rebuild their lives,” she added.

Turkish officials insist that the takeover has proved popular, with Afrin
residents tired of YPG rule and Turkey able to improve utilities services
after similar operations in towns like Jarabulus and Al-Bab east of Afrin.

BSS/AFP/FI/ 0750 hrs