11/10/19
In the month since Turkey intervened to drive U.S.-allied Syrian Kurdish fighters from a broad swath of northern Syria, proxy forces backed by Ankara have been blamed for a growing ledger of abuses against the local population, residents say, undermining Turkey’s stated goal of creating a “safe zone” for civilians. More than 200,000 people have been internally displaced by the Turkish-led offensive, according to the United Nations. Families that have been scattered across eastern Syria say that Turkey’s Syrian Arab proxies have carried out summary executions and beatings, kidnapped or detained their relatives and looted their houses, businesses and belongings. The result, refugees say, is a form of ethnic cleansing — an operation they see as designed in part to force out Kurdish residents and their sympathizers and replace them with Arabs loyal to Turkey. Turkey essentially delegated the ground offensive to a proxy force, the Syrian National Army, an umbrella group in northern Syria consisting of an assortment of rebel forces opposed to the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. Many of the group’s factions, made up largely of Syrian Arab fighters, had already fought at Turkey’s behest in two previous military operations over the past three years. It is the Syrian National Army that many residents blame for depredations against civilians that have driven thousands out of the area.
Among the displaced is Fateh, a 38-year-old barber from the border town of Ras al-Ayn in northeastern Syria. “Those people are filled with hatred and a lust for blood,” said Fateh, speaking on the condition that his full name not be used for fear of reprisals. “They do not distinguish between Arab and Kurdish, Muslim and non-Muslim. They contacted me before the offensive and said that as an Arab Muslim, it is my duty to rise up against the Kurds and help Turkey invade my city.” The offensive also displaced Mikael Mohammad, the Kurdish owner of a clothing shop in Tal Abyad. “Let’s be clear, Tal Abyad is not under the control of Turkey. It’s under the control of Turkey’s mercenaries,” Mohammad said by phone. Mohammad said relatives who did not make it out of Tal Abyad have told him that families of fighters from the Islamic State, who had escaped from a nearby internment camp, now occupy his building. They kidnap and execute people for being ‘atheists’ or ‘blasphemers.’ And they are looting people’s properties in broad daylight.” Speaking to journalists recently, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan defended his Syrian rebel allies, saying they were not “terrorists” but Islamic holy warriors who were “defending their land there, hand in hand, arm in arm, shoulder to shoulder with my soldiers.”
