Turkish occupation and its mercenaries are systemically continuing their atrocities’ practices against women in the occupied areas, and terrifying numbers about cases of murder, assault and kidnapping, while humanitarian organization still remain silent towards what is happening there.
The human rights organization Afrin – Syria has recorded that more than 1,000 women have been kidnapped, most of them minors, and the fate of more than (400) women remains unknown, and more than (63) women have been killed in addition to (4) suicides and rape (65). A woman, and more than (215) women were injured in the areas occupied by the Turkish state and its mercenaries from January 20 2018 to June 2020.
As for Girê Spi / Tal Abyad, and Serêkaniyê / Ras al-Ain, daily life is not distinguished from the rest of the regions by the arbitrary arrests of civilians and women and their extortion in order to obtain ransom payments from their families.
The documented crimes and violations against women show the inhuman and brutal extent and systematic violence against women in the occupied territories, despite the issuance of UN Resolution 1,325 by the United Nations which provides for the protection of women and children and the cessation of violations against them.
Although many local human rights and humanitarian organizations in Afrin and the regions of northern and eastern Syria have submitted several files documenting the war crimes committed by the Turkish occupation against women to the United Nations and international and humanitarian organizations, all of them still remain silent.
Cases of violence in the occupied territories are increasing in the face of global silence
A member of the Manbij Women Council, Reem Darwish, stated that the Turkish occupation and its mercenaries aim to practice the most heinous crimes and violations against the people, especially women, to silence the voice of women in various ways to extinguish the spirit of will and try to impose authoritarian hegemony over them.
Reem indicated, “There is a hidden hatred of the Turkish occupation state in the occupied territories towards women, because women are considered a basic pillar in developing society and the core of revolutions throughout the ages, and to this day they are still leading revolutions against fascism and injustice and demanding freedom and justice.”
Regarding the increase in the number of murders and assaults on women, Reem said: According to our follow-up, there is an increase in the number of murder cases against women, and these cases occur in full view of the world, which takes a stand of silence about these crimes without doing anything.
Reem Darwish indicated that the Turkish occupation is pursuing the harshest policies in the occupied territories against women, including killing, rape, imprisonment, and torture by various means, with the aim of weakening their will and silencing their voice that always calls for freedom. Syria, mercenaries of the Turkish state follow the same policy. “
In the conclusion of her speech, Reem appealed to human rights and women’s organizations in the world to stand against the practices and crimes committed by the Turkish occupation and its mercenaries in the occupied territories against women.