kmmrojava
2016 Human Right Violations Committed by Turkish Government in the Rojava
After receiving numerous complaints in 2016 about the breaches and violations of borders between Syria and Turkey, our Jazira Canton Branch of the Human Right Association initiated an investigation on January 3, 2017 on the border violations. The results of our investigation is summarized below:
We share with the public the results of our investigation from 129 villages including 84 villages in Jazira canton, 30 villages in Kobane, and 15 villages in Afrin Canton.
Per 695 complaints made to our Jazira Canton’s branch, our investigations have found that Turkish Republic had violated the border by capturing 22406 acres of land from Rojava people into Turkish Republic territory through building the border walls. Witnesses and hospital reports had shown that the civilian villagers in the Turkey-Syria border had been targeted with the heavy guns like Karnas and BKC. After these attacks 20 people, including woman and children, had lost their lives and 42 people had been wounded or disabled.
Within Kobane Canton, 362 complaints from 30 villages had been received. The results of investigations had shown that people working on their lands or herding their animals had been targeted with long-range automatic guns by Turkish soldiers and as a result two people had died and 69 people had been wounded, most of whom had become disabled. In addition, Turkey had transferred 4626 acres of land and 6 water wells over to its territory. Furthermore, 1143 trees, mostly of olive and walnut, had been cut down. Moreover, by demolishing houses, burning the crops, and killing animals herding close to the border, lot of property and personal damage had been inflicted upon people.
Within Afrin Canton, 400 complaints from 15 villages had been received. Investigations have shown that 600 acres of land had been transferred to Turkish side while building border walls. Numerous villagers working in close proximity of the border had been targeted by Turkish soldiers and as a result 212 people had been hit, of whom 72 had had died and 140 had been wounded, the majority of the whom had been disabled. About 12,000 trees, mostly olive and fruit, had been cut down.
Overall, in all three Jazira, Kobane, and Afrin cantons, with total of 1457 complaints from 129 villages, it was found that 326 people had been targeted with long-range automatic guns, of these 115 people had died and 211 had been wounded, most of whom had been disabled. Furthermore, Turkish state has violated the borders by transferring total of 27633 acres of land belonging to our people to Turkey’s side through erecting intentionally misplaced border walls.
Our investigations have shown that Turkey has violated the following United Nation’s rules:
- UN’s rule # 2131 in 1964: Declaration on the Inadmissibility of Intervention in the Domestic Affairs of States and the Protection of Their Independence and Sovereignty, which requires the UN’s observatory conditions in the disputes
- UN General Assembly Resolution # 2625 in 1970: Declaration on Principles of International Law Concerning Friendly Relations and Cooperation Among States in Accordance with the Charter of the United Nations, which bans the interference into other countries interior affairs.
- UN’s rule # 2734 in 1970: Declaration on the Strengthening of International Security, which dictates the protection of international societies.
- UN’s rule # 3314 in 1974: Special Measures in Favor of the Least Developed Countries, which bans the use of armed forces and border violation.
The aforementioned cases are examples of violations of the indicated UN resolutions. This is a state in which both UN International Resolutions and Human Rights Universal Declarations have been violated. Since we do not have any information in our hand, our report does not include any data about Jarablus area, which was invaded by Turkish Army in August 2016. We have not been able to obtain any related information. Since we did not have ways to confirm, we did not include the debatable news about Jarablus area that had been posted in various news outlets.
In conclusion, in our archive, we have the data and documents related to the reports we outlined above. We request that human right organizations and international observers come to the area and investigate claims. We also call on international community not to stay silent and bystander to these violations and attacks of Turkish State against civilians.
Human Rights Organization In Jazeera