NEWS CENTER - A mother looking for her abducted 14-year-old daughter said tens of children and women were subjected to sexual assault and abuse by members of Turkish backed groups.

 

Turkish army and its backed groups reportedly committed war crime in Afrin. According to an article written by Zeynep Kızılırmak and published by Fırat News Agency (ANF), as the attacks of Turkish army and its backed groups on Afrin continue for three months, what is going on in the region is being revealed. A mother looking for her abducted 14-year-old daughter revealed the truth. Tens of girls and women have been abducted so far in the Afrin city. Those abducted are being held in some houses near the Vilayet Street in the city center, and subjected to systematic sexual assaults.

 

Witness statements confirm the allegations

 

A civilian living in Afrin’s Mahmudiyah Neighborhood, whom we will not mention by name for security reasons, told the following; “They have entered our houses and took all our valuable belongings since the day they came. They took all the gold, white goods and everything else away loading them on trucks. Then they gathered the people who remained in the city, and separated men and women in different areas. We were hearing the screams of women. I do not know what they did to them. They tortured us men, saying “You are supporters of terrorists; we will take all your belongings and women.

 

“We were released after two days without food and water but some girls and women did not return. They were taken somewhere else and we do not know where. Two girls ages 14-15 are among those they took away.”

 

She learned the situation while looking for her daughter

 

The reports say the named of two girls, missing since March 22, are F.H ve H.A. During phone interview, the mother of H.A. stated that they have been trying secretly to find the two girls for days, and in the meantime they met with several families who have not heard from their girls either. The mother told that women cannot go out in the street, so they wear burqa and look for their daughters. She said, “While looking for my daughter, I found out that many other girls are missing. As much as I myself learned, there are 15 girls missing and they are aged between 14 and 20. This is the number I have managed to find out only in the neighborhood I live.”

 

Before in Shengal now in Afrin

 

According to what the mother has managed to learn from an Arab family that has close relations with the Turkish soldiers and gangs in the city, the abducted girls and women are held in some houses near Vilayat Street in the city center. The mother said, “They are keeping our children here. They have settled in the houses in that area and are not allowing anyone to approach there. What Daesh did in Shengal is being done here now. Our children are held captive and they are raped by the gangs. The world must see this vileness.”

 

Another resident, an Arab in his/her own statement, confirmed the statements of the witness we spoke to, and the war crimes committed by the invading Turkish army and gangs in Afrin, telling; “A gang leader from the Turkish-affiliated Hamza Brigade is touring the neighborhoods and gathering young girls. They are taking these girls to the houses on Vilayat Street, presenting them to Turkish officers and gang members.”