Syria: Turkey-Backed Groups Seizing Property | Human Rights Watch

14.6.18

Syria: Turkey-Backed Groups Seizing Property | Human Rights Watch: “Destroying or moving into the property of people who have had to flee the fighting is not what the Free Syrian Army fighters should be doing when they move into an area,” said Priyanka Motaparthy, acting emergencies director at Human Rights Watch. “Instead of protecting vulnerable civilians’ rights, these fighters are perpetuating a cycle of abuse.”

On January 20, 2018, Turkey began a military offensive to take control of the Afrin district in Aleppo governorate from the Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD)-led Autonomous Administration. On March 18, the Turkish president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, announced that Turkish forces and Syrian Turkish-backed non-state armed groups had taken control of the city of Afrin. According to the United Nations, the fighting displaced at least 137,000 people.