Ever since the Turkish state and the gangs invaded Afrin, human trafficking, rape and extortion continue in both the city centre and villages.

Acting under the orders of the Turkish state, ISIS, al-Nusra and Free Syrian Army (FSA) mercenaries are carrying out all sorts of violence against those citizens who remained in Afrin.

E.S., an Afrin citizen who did not want to leave his home was subjected to the tortures of the Turkish state and its mercenary allies for months.

Speaking to ANF, E.S. told of the persecution he had experienced: “Every day 20-40 mortars were launched in Cindires, the planes were constantly bombing, so I took my children to the village of Remedana. Here the bombing didn’t stop. I then took my kids to the village of Kaxrê, but it was the same. Bombing again and two civilians lost their lives due to the bombs. So we came to Afrin, but here too the bombing continued and civilians lost their life”.

Emphasizing that they had to leave Afrin with his father and two elderly relatives due to the attacks, E.S. said: “The next day my father suffered a heart attack because of the mortars and bombs and lost his life. I took my father's body to Basut and buried him there. Two days later one of my elderly relatives lost his life. He too suffered a heart attack”.

Later, E.S. said he was forced to go to Tilsure, and two days later he went back to Cindires. When he reached Cindires he found out that other relatives had lost their life. E.S. had lost three relatives within few days.

E.S. said: “The car of FSA mercenaries stopped at the door of my house. They blindfolded me and many of my family. They started to beat us first. Then my feet were hit so hard that I could not walk anymore”.

For a few days they kept guards next to them. “In this time - said E.S. - they gave us food and water. They were constantly torturing us. Then they took us to Turkey. But I did not know where it was. There they continued in the same way. We were two people tied together for days. No food and no water. A Turkish person carried out our interrogation. There was someone who knew Arabic with him. A few days later they left us”.

After the return to the village, E.S. said that he had been subjected to assault and harassment by the Turkish state and its mercenary allies. He said: "At night, at 2 o'clock, sometimes at 3 o'clock, they were constantly coming in whenever they wanted. When we said why they were searching our house, they told us that they had seen someone on the roof. They were all with long hair and long beards They were doing this not just to us but to many other civilians. Their aim was to force people to leave their homes and villages”.

E.S. stated that some people were arrested for alleged connection with YPG and said: “If someone owned some property, they would come and get it. They would arrest the owner of the house and carry him away saying there was an investigation against him and he would be gone for days”.

Emphasizing that some of the kidnapped people did not return, E.S. continued: "In the village of Hesheska they took away a person named Mihemmed İbiş, tortured him to death. They said he had a heart attack, but they lied. They killed him under torture”.

He added: “I saw them with my eyes, they were putting Arab families they had brought from other places in Jinderes. I have seen Hundreds of families coming from outside and been settled in our houses. They confiscated all the shops in the bazaar. They gave no permission to people to enter their house and get a few things: blankets, refrigerators, the mercenaries took everything. They allowed a family to get some clothes and that was all”.

E.S. stated that the Turkish state and the occupiers did not allow anyone to open their shop: "They do not allow anyone to open their shop, there are 360 villages in Afrin, they have all confiscated all the villages, burning the trees in the villages. In short, almost all the trees in the villages have been burned down. The olive trees were eradicated, they are building police stations there”.