YPG Spokesperson: Turkey guilty of war crimes
The International Forum on Demographic Change and Ethnic Cleansing in Afrin, organised in Amude has evaluated the effects and impact of the Turkish invasion of Afrin.
Professor Christopher What, from the British Columbia University School of Medicine, talked about the situation of the refugee camps in Shehba.
What served in a health center in Mosul and Shengal between February and March in 2017 and thus compared the current situation in Shehba to the situation in Shengal and Mosul.
Noting that the Afrin has gone through a deep humanitarian crisis What recalled that according to Heyva Sor a Kurd some 300 thousand people from Afrin were forced to migrate to Shehba and that both the Turkish and Syrian regimes had actually made it difficult for aid to reach the refugees.
What underlined that the situation is clearly more severe in the winter season, and stressed that there is a need to increase the number of health centers and workers in Shehba.
YPG spokesperson informed on war crimes
YPG spokesperson, Nuri Mehmud, was also among the speakers of the Forum. He made important statements on Erdogan and his regime's policies in the region and shared documents on war crimes.
Mehmud, recalled that representatives of the Turkish foreign ministry had sent a letter to the UN trying to justify the ongoing occupation of Afrin saying that the city 'constitutes the main threat to Turkey's national security’.
Reasons for Turkish occupation
Asserting that Turkey has shown no evidence to substantiate its justification of Afrin being a threat to its national security, Mehmud said:
1- No evidence has been submitted so far about the violation of the border and the conflict between the two sides. In fact the Turkish government had built a 4 meters tall wall to protect the national security of the border between Turkey and Afrin.
In addition, mines were laid along the border line, wires and all kinds of security measures were taken on the border line with advanced military technology to prevent the occurrence of any conflict.
We believe that all the above proves that Turkey indeed violated international law.
2- The UN Security Council, the European Union and all international organizations and treaties had neither granted nor authorized the occupation of the Turkish state. For this reason, it is seen that the Turkish state has clearly violated international laws.”
Dirty policies and the NATO agreement
Turkey is part of NATO, recalled Mehmud and added: “President Erdogan and his team have used the [European] refugee crisis several times as an element of blackmail against the EU and other Western countries. And these in turn remained silent when it came to Afrin. Erdogan and his team have carried out dirty policies in the face of the NATO agreement. All heavy weapons with advanced NATO-made technology were used in the attacks. For example, we saw that German tanks were used in Afrin. This situation has been documented by international law institutions and the media, and ultimately led to a political and moral crisis within NATO.”
Religious, nationalist and racist propaganda
Erdogan and his team, said Mehmud, “carried out a very heavy religious, nationalist and racist propaganda in order to win consensus among Turkish people.”
The Turkish state has used and relied on jihadist groups to carry out the invasion and occupation of Afrin, said Mehmud.
The spokesperson of the YPG said: “What the mercenaries groups backed by Turkey have done in Afrin is before the world’s eyes.”
Mehmud added that “these groups are all in UN and NATO terror groups lists”.
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