Rojava’s Efrîn Canton Human Rights Association has disclosed that 114 cases of torture were perpetrated and 9 citizens were killed by Turkish soldiers at the border between Turkey and Efrîn Canton during the past one year.

During the past four years, dozens of Rojava citizens were massacred by Turkish soldiers who were deployed at the border after the beginning of Rojava Revolution, while hundreds suffered brutal torture and dozens were left disabled.

According to Efrîn Human Rights Association, Turkish troops have continuously committed border violation during this recent period, mainly near Efrîn, as they entered Rojava soil, killed and brutally tortured people and set fire to the cultivated fields of the people.

Soldiers set 130-hectare agricultural land on fire

The Human Rights Association reported that Turkish soldiers set Deşta Şadiya area at Raco border on fire on 19th May, 2015. An agricultural area of 130 hectares burnt to ground as a result of the fire which could be extinguished owing to the intervention of municipality workers and local people.

On 30th May 2015, Turkish soldiers once again set another Rojava land on fire, this time the Yenzeliq area of Şiyê, which left a 40-hectare olive grove burned to ashes. The attacks of Turkish soldiers have continued despite all the calls voiced by the people to human rights associations.

9 massacred, 114 tortured in one year

According to the figures revealed by Efrîn Human Rights Association, 9 people from Rojava were killed and 114 others were brutally tortured by Turkish soldiers at the border between August 2014 and August 2015. The findings of the Association show that most of the torture cases took place in Bêge, Şengal, Merwaniye and Hemamê villages.

The Association drew attention to the fact that attacks of Turkish soldiers against Efrîn people increased following the success achieved by YPG/YPJ and joint resistance forces against ISIS gangs in the cantons of Kobanê and Cizîr.

The head of Efrîn Human Rights Association, Xelîl Sîno, said they found out that Turkish soldiers killed 2 people and heavily tortured 38 others only during the last month (July). He added that the human rights violations at the border are continuing increasingly.

Sîno stated that 114 residents of Efrîn were tortured and many civilians were shot by Turkish soldiers at the border between Efrîn and North Kurdistan since August 2014. While some of these people were heavily wounded and some others become permanently disabled, nine people lost their lives as a result of attacks by soldiers during the past one year.