Young Kurd in Afrin committed suicide following 'daily threats' from Turkish-backed militiaman: SOHR
"The young man therefore chose to kill himself to escape from the great psychological pressure he suffered from in the recent time."
ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – A young Kurdish man from the northwestern Turkish-occupied Syrian Kurdish enclave of Afrin committed suicide following "harassment and daily threats" by a Turkish-backed militiaman, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights war monitor reported on Tuesday.
The young man was from the Bulbul district in Afrin's countryside. He worked at a shawarma restaurant.
He was repeatedly harassed by a militiaman belonging to the so-called "al-Jabha al-Shamiyyah" militia known as "Abu Ja'far" from the Mayer village in northern Aleppo province. According to SOHR activists in Afrin, Ja'far frequently blackmailed the young man, extorting money from him in return for not arresting him and his brother. The latter had served with Kurdish forces that controlled the enclave before Turkey invaded in 2018.
"The young man therefore chose to kill himself to escape from the great psychological pressure he suffered from in the recent time," SOHR reported.
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The Observatory has documented numerous cases of abuses and human rights violations perpetrated against Afrin's civilians by the Turkish-backed militiamen that have occupied the region since 2018.