Human rights organizations call for a comprehensive investigation into the violations in Afrin

The human rights organizations “European Center for constitutional and Human Rights (ECCR) and Syrians for truth and Justice (STJ)) filed a criminal complaint with the German federal prosecutor’s office on January 18, 2024 to demand a comprehensive investigation into the crimes and violations of the armed factions of the Turkish occupation against Kurdish citizens in Afrin since its occupation in 2018.

The above-mentioned human rights organizations, in a press release, a copy of which was obtained by Aso news network, demanded that the federal prosecutor’s Office begin investigating international crimes in occupied Afrin.

The military attack on Afrin caused the displacement of more than 300 thousand civilians, most of them Kurds, after which Turkey imposed an arbitrary rule that still exists today, during which the people of Afrin faced widespread and systematic violations, ranging from enforced disappearances, arbitrary arrests, torture and sexual assault, in addition to seizing citizens ‘ private property and imposing heavy taxes in order to displace the remaining residents of the city.

Patrick Crocker, who is responsible for the work of the European Center for constitutional and Human Rights on Syria, commented: “the trial on the torture practiced by the Syrian state since 2011 before the Koblenz Regional High Court was a pioneering step, however, the atrocities committed by mostly Islamist militias against the Kurdish population in northern Syria has so far been a blind spot in these investigations, this must change, the ruling militias in Afrin have established an era of violence and arbitrariness with Turkish support.”