Syrian Kurdish parties send message to UN, seeking aid for Afrin

Several prominent Syrian Kurdish parties and human rights organizations on Tuesday sent a letter to the United Nations calling on the Turkish army to withdraw from Syrian Kurdistan’s (Rojava) Afrin region.

QAMISHLO (Kurdistan 24) – Several prominent Syrian Kurdish parties and human rights organizations on Tuesday sent a letter to United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra’ad al-Hussein, calling on the Turkish army to withdraw from Syrian Kurdistan’s (Rojava) Afrin region.

In a letter which Kurdistan 24 received a copy of, the signatories appealed to the UN to interfere and request Turkey to stop the physical assaults, torture, and all aspects of violence against civilians in Afrin.

The letter requested that the UN push “Turkey to guarantee a safe and peaceful return for all displaced and immigrated civilians to their homes and stop all kinds of extortion and terror.”

The signees also called for an end to the resettlement of Arab families from areas in Damascus to Afrin as well as an “immediate cessation for settling operations of the Arab families in Afrin and taking out settlers and transforming them into other areas.”

The signees further appealed to the UN to call on Turkey to allow media agencies and international humanitarian organizations to enter Afrin and provide relief.

The signees concluded their letter by calling the UN via its foundations and sections, especially the international criminal court, to begin investigations and trials and punish perpetrators of crimes in Afrin.

Turkish and Syrian rebel forces overtook the Kurdish-held enclave on March 18 where they declared full control following a nearly two-month-long offensive against the People’s Protection Units (YPG), the military force in Rojava.

Turkey, which launched its military incursion into Afrin in January, claimed the operation was meant to secure its borders of YPG forces which it argues are an offshoot of the banned Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), thus “terrorists.”

The offensive killed over 250 civilians, mostly women, and children, and displaced tens of thousands.

Since the climax of the Turkish campaign, Syrian Kurdish officials have warned of a demographic change in the Kurdish enclave as hundreds of Arabs and other ethnic components are relocated from other parts of Syria to Afrin.

Editing by Karzan Sulaivany