Turkish-backed factions continue to damage archeological sites: reports

Moreover, a number of these sites have also been converted into military bases.

Wladimir van Wilgenburg 2022/03/07 14:50

Footage of alleged destruction of archeological sites in Tal Abyad (Photo: Hawar News Agency)

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – Turkish-backed groups have once again been credibly accused of willfully damaging and destroying archeological sites near Tal Abyad and Afrin.

The local Syria-based Hawar News Agency (ANHA) reported that a number of archaeological sites – including Tel Sahlan, Dahliz, Sabi al-Abyed, al-Farr city near Tal Abyad (Girespi in Kurdish) – have been looted by these groups.

Moreover, a number of these sites have also been converted into military bases.

According to ANHA, the local Tal Abyad Council is working through the Culture Committee to document the damage done to archeological sites.

Turkey has controlled the towns of Tal Abyad and Serekaniye (Ras al-Ain in Arabic) since October 2019. Moreover, it invaded the Kurdish-majority Afrin region in March 2018.

The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) war monitor also reported on Sunday that Turkish-backed factions have destroyed the remainder of the archeological hill in the village of Basuta, south of Afrin.

The hill is located in the northwestern section of the village of Basuta.

"It was registered under the Syrian Antiquities Directorate according to the resolution A/244 in 1981, where the hill was subjected to drilling and bulldozing with heavy machinery and a road for the ascent and descent of machines was opened in the south western side, accordingly most of the 'Acropolis' space was destroyed," read the SOHR report.

Turkish-backed factions loot and plunder archaeological sites in Afrin for financial reasons.

Moreover, according to a report submitted to the UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Syria by the Ceasefire Centre for Civilian Rights (Ceasefire) and YASA e.V. – Kurdish Centre for Studies & Legal Consultancy (YASA) in September 2021, the Turkish-backed factions are responsible for the "destruction and excavation of Afrin's historical and cultural heritage sites."

"These processes were usually carried out by members of SNA (Turkish-backed Syrian National Army) factions operating with Turkish knowledge or oversight," the report stated.

"Attacks on heritage sites appear to motivated by a dual purpose: to profit from the sale of historical artifacts looted from the premises on the one hand, and to alter the socio-cultural landscape of the region on the other, by removing historical remnants of pre-Islamic civilizations and desecrating sites associated with Afrin's different ethnic and religious groups."