Since the Turkish state and their allied gangs invaded Afrin, the looting, robbery, massacres, rapes and damage to the environment continue to increase. The Turkish state has left no place to live for the people in Afrin, and families subjected to their tyranny flee the city with one last hope to save themselves, despite all hardship and risking death. X.H. is one of the people who witnessed months of barbarism and managed to flee. X.H. spoke to the ANF about what they went through in Afrin for 3 months.

THEY CONFISCATED ALL BELONGINGS OF THE PEOPLE

X.H. said the people have no chance to live in Afrin city center or its villages anymore, and that they can live with all kinds of hardship, but they won’t consent to living under the Turkish state invasion. X.H. said he, his wife and their children stayed in the Maratê village of Afrin for 3 months and spoke of the hardship: “My house was hit by jets. It was in ruins. I had left Afrin 3 days ago.

We saw the tyranny and treason. They were capturing people and confiscating all they had, they were torturing people and demanded very high ransoms. They arrested me. I was left in jail for 10 days. They had turned a house into a jail, where they tortured me. I promised them money to save myself. They let me go on condition that I bring them 5.000 dollars in 5 days. But we had no money. We are unemployed, the roads are blocked, they left no option for us to work. They already take all that the people have. They take the last cents people have, even if it means they kill them.”

WE WILL LIVE IN THE DESERT BUT WE WON’T CONSENT TO SUCH LIFE

X.H. said he fled Afrin with his mother, father, wife and children before the 5 days were up: “My father is 80 years old, my mother 70, and my children are young. The children were left hungry and thirsty on the road. But we risked everything. We want our voice heard. We are right by our village, our city, our lands, but we can’t go due to fear.

International humanitarian organizations and states should speak up. Now we are in the Serdem Camp. We have more peace of mind here. But we didn’t have it there, even though it was our home, our lands. We will live in this desert, but we won’t consent to such a life. We want this to be seen. We want this tyranny and invasion to be visible.”

THEY THROW PEOPLE DOWN WELLS AND KILL UNBORN BABIES

X.H. said dozens of women have been abducted in almost all villages, and that most of them don’t return. X.H. continued: “For them, every Kurd in Afrin is an Apoist. They throw people down wells, they kill unborn babies. What do trees have to do with Apoism and being Kurdish - they are cutting down the trees. There is torture, theft, what have you, all present in Afrin. Theft is normal there with the Turkish state.

They took all that we had in my home too. They took doors, windows, they even tore out cables. My home is completely demolished. They abduct women. They have abducted women in many villages, and only 1 out of 20 women return. They take them for themselves. These are all documented. They only care for money, that is their religion.”

SHAME TO TALK ABOUT WHAT IS HAPPENING

X.H. stressed that the Turkish state and their gangs steal money from the people: “To take the money, they accuse the people with various excuses. They say the person is with the organization, they worked for them, so they must give $ 5.000, or 7.000. We have no jobs, and no money. How will we pay? They kill animals, they kill nature, they kill children, the elderly, and they imprison people. When we say we don’t have any money, they tell us their jails are great, so we can stay there until we have the money.

The prison in Afrin is now full. There was one prison in Matê, now there are 300 people there. The children all families have been looking for everywherewere taken to this prison. These are the ones I know of, they killed many people. They built a prison of their own in every village. It is a shame to even talk about what is happening in Afrin.”

THEY EXTORT PEOPLE

X.H. said they used to have a home in Afrin center and that they moved to a village after the Turkish state invaded. X.H. said they settled in 7 villages in total, but they never were comfortable enough to continue their lives: “They threaten people to bring their relatives outside of Afrin into the city. They say people must either bring relatives or pay. Or they demolish their home and disappear their children.”

They fine people one million Syrian Liras, and if the person is able to bring a family in to Afrin, they pay half the fine each. In every village, they fine people for not bringing in their relatives. Now families in every village have to pay them 200.000 Syrian Liras every month. This tyranny happens in all 360 villages of Afrin.”

ERDOĞAN CAME TO AFRIN FOR A GENOCIDE

X.H. said the Turkish President Tayyip Erdoğan used YPG/YPJ as an excuse to attack Afrin and continued: “What they do is actual terror. Was the baby in the womb a YPG or a YPJ member? The houses they demolished, the trees they cut off, the animals they exterminated, what is the excuse for them? Everybody saw it, they killed dozens of children and elderly people. Dozens of people lost their feet, their hands, their eyes.

They destroyed everything in Afrin. They left nothing behind that is beautiful. Erdoğan’s target wasn’t just YPG or YPJ. He was aiming for a genocide. For a massacre. And he did do it. He continues to do so. All international humanitarian organizations and states should speak up. Everybody can see this tyranny now. This issue must be resolved at once. We have no house left, no garden, no trees, we lost everything. We don’t want anything from anybody. We just want to go back to our old life.”