Allegations of forced marriages emerge in Turkish-controlled Afrin in Syria

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – New allegations that surfaced this week add to multiple previous claims that Turkish-backed militias in control of the Syrian city of Afrin since 2018 have forced multiple female residents of the Kurdish-majority area into marriage against their will.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a British-based war monitor, alleged on Monday that a fighter from the Turkish-backed Sultan Murad militia kidnapped a girl from Afrin, raped her, and forced her to marry him.

Syrian activist and journalist Maher Sharafeddine, from the southern Syrian city of Suweida, published allegations on social media that a Kurdish girl named Hevrin was abducted by Ahmed Ibrahim, a fighter of the Sultan Murad group. 

“Some brothers from the National Army have contacted me and confirmed that the accused persons have been arrested and investigations are ongoing,” he wrote, adding, “The girl will be asked whether she has been really kidnapped or she came with him voluntarily. I will publish the investigation outcome, soon as I have it.”

The journalist said the kidnappers should be put on trial and added that human rights violations in Afrin have “exceeded all the limits.”

Mohammed Billo, an independent journalist from Afrin, told Kurdistan 24 that the fighter allegedly asked for the young woman’s hand in marriage three times from her mother, “But her mother did not accept it. After this, he has threatened them and the girl was abducted.”

According to Billo, the girl is currently in Jindiris, where her parents have complained to the Turkish-backed Military Police. “But the police said we cannot do anything,” they told him, specifying that “a few days later, a single marriage document was published (online) saying that she was married by her will.”

Turkish-backed factions have controlled Afrin since March 2018 when the Turkish army launched its cross-border offensive known as Operation Olive Branch in Afrin to target the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG). Ankara considers the group, which had controlled the area since 2012, a “terrorist organization” affiliated to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).

Since then, multiple sources have charged that Turkish-backed groups have carried out forced marriages in and around the city.

A report of the Investigate Journal in October also alleged that Turkish-backed groups forced women there to marry fighters. One former member of the Free Syrian Army (FSA) named Ziad Ibrahim told the journal that he had witnessed at least 50 women being forced to marry fighters in Afrin.

Ibrahim gave the journal an example of a 19-year-old woman who was forced to marry a 31-year-old fighter after he threatened her father, a baker, saying that if “he didn’t have his daughter’s hand in marriage in the next few days, he would kill the baker and take his home.”

Following the threat, the baker reluctantly gave in and handed his daughter over.

Meghan Bodette, an independent researcher, told Kurdistan 24 that these allegations are not implausible, saying, “Crimes like these occur all too frequently in occupied Efrin (Afrin). Nearly 30 women have been reported kidnapped by armed groups in the region in the first four months of this year alone,” she said. 

“Many more cases likely go unreported, as people can face retaliation for speaking out-- in fact, one local monitor noted recently that a man who filed a complaint after his daughter had been kidnapped and raped by armed groups was himself arrested for speaking out.”

According to Bodette, prior to the 2018 Turkish offensive, women “held leadership roles in all political institutions, organized communes and economic cooperatives, and defended their communities as members of the YPJ (Women’s Protection Units).” 

“Since Turkey and the Syrian National Army took over, however, women in Efrin are excluded from political and military structures, and face the constant threats of kidnapping, torture, harassment, and sexual violence, “Bodette added. 

“Turkish-backed armed groups have systemically, and violently, rolled back nearly every advance in women’s rights that was made under the Autonomous Administration in Efrin.”

A report of the UN Commission of Inquiry on Syria published in March also confirmed these allegations.  

The report accused Turkish-backed groups of dismantling earlier efforts by the previous local Kurdish administration in Afrin to improve women’s rights and strengthen their role in decision-making.

It also said Turkish-backed rebels targeted almost every “aspect of Kurdish women’s lives” in areas under their control, concluding, “Armed groups generated a palpable fear of violence and duress among the female Kurdish population.” 

In the report, the UN commission called on Turkish-backed groups in Afrin to investigate violations and crimes and punish those responsible.

Editing by John J. Catherine