By virtue of friendship… they approached an Afrini young man on the pretext of helping him, but their goal was more insidious

The life of the Kurdish population in the city of Afrin, from four years ago, is almost devoid of kidnappings, arrests, the seizure of their property, and their expulsion from their homes by force at gunpoint, in order to seize it by pro-Turkish militants and benefit from it for their interest.

Aso News Network contacted one of these residents who had been kidnapped and his house seized, and he managed to escape from Afrin in order to preserve his life and the life of his family, preferring not to reveal his identity for fear that his family would be harassed by armed factions.

The speaker recounts what he was subjected to at the hands of an armed group affiliated with one of the factions of the National Army, saying, After the war on the city of Afrin, and Turkey and the National Army were able to control the entire city, my family and I decided to return to our home in the city and get rid of the harsh conditions that we were subjected to after we left our home as a result of the battles, we went back to our house, I went back to work, and things were going well, and I had some friends from outside Afrin, by virtue of my work, and I did not know that they had joined one of the factions of the National Army, but they claimed at the time that they had come to the city of Afrin to escape from the pursuit of the Syrian regime and they are not related to militants.

And he continued, since that time they visited me on an almost daily basis, whether it was at my place of work or at my home, and they provided me with some assistance so that I could return to work again as before, claiming that they were doing all this by virtue of our old knowledge, but I did not know at the time that they were planning everything Those plans with the aim of taking over my home and shop.

He added, I got married before the war on the city of Afrin, and at that time my father bought me a house in Afrin the city, and I completely covered the house with all the furniture requirements, but I did not know that those who claimed to be my friends frequented my house to visit me, only to know later that they were registering the entire contents of my house with them. as a prelude to seizing it after they planned to kidnap me and demand a ransom from my father.

And one day they came to my house and asked me to accompany them on a visit to one of our mutual acquaintances under the pretext that he was sick and we had to visit him, but I did not know that it was a trick from them and that I would be exposed to what I was exposed to after I went out with them, and on the way and after we got away from the city they put a black bag on My head and threatening me if I made any movement to kill me… Here I realized that I had been kidnapped.

After that, they transferred me to an unknown destination in a strange place, I did not know if I was in Afrin, or they transferred me to another place, and here the most difficult moments of my life began, and I received all kinds of physical and psychological torture, and the threat of killing my family, during my kidnapping period, and all that on the pretext of obtaining money. The kidnappers demanded a ransom of $20,000 from my family in exchange for my release, or they will kill me. Twenty days after my kidnapping, my father was unable to secure the required amount, as it was beyond our financial capacity, so I was sure that my fate would be murder.

And he continued to tell his story, saying, When I became sure that my fate would be murder, I began to try to escape from their grip, and I succeeded in that after I agreed with one of the guards to give him a sum of money for him only in exchange for smuggling me, because they wanted the money and were ready to sell each other in exchange for it, and I really ran away and ran out. My agreement is with the person who released from me.

After escaping from prison, I had to leave the city of Afrin to preserve my life and the life of my family, as the gunmen threatened me during my kidnapping that they would kidnap my wife and my young son if the required ransom was not paid.

After our escape from the city of Afrin, the gunmen had a strong argument to seize my house, so they expelled my elderly father from it, confiscated all the furniture and contents of the house, and stole it.

First, they turned my house into a security headquarters affiliated with one of the armed factions, and an interrogation and investigation center for the residents of Afrin they detained. After a period of time passed, one of the armed men sold the house to one of the settler families who still live in my house to this day.

At the end of his speech, he said that what hurts me the most is my blind father, who tried repeatedly to take back my house, as he used to go every morning to check on the house, but the gunmen did not even allow him to enter the house, and he would sit for hours on the steps of the house crying over what happened to me and my family and my house, which he gave it to me as a gift for my wedding, so all my father’s dreams were shattered in front of him.

The story of this young man is similar to the stories of thousands of Afrin residents who suffer from the oppression of the armed forces of the National Army, who refused to submit to them and left their city, their loved ones, and everything they had just to save their lives.