Olives as spoils of war in Afrin

The invading Turkish state and their allied gangs have been pillaging Afrin and they force Arab communities to pick Kurds' olives at gunpoint in an attempt to pit the two communities against each other.

The invading Turkish state and their allied gangs have been attacking the civilian population since the day they entered Afrin, and they have been pillaging the property of locals. Turkish soldiers and their gangs have been harvesting all the olives for themselves as the olive season opened.

Locals say Turkish soldiers and their gangs enter the olive groves and stop the people from harvesting, and then pillage and sell the produce themselves. A citizen from Mabata’s Emara village said he was removed from his 600-tree grove by gangs as soon as he entered.

PITTING PEOPLES AGAINST EACH OTHER

Having confiscated the olive groves in the city, the gangs are forcing local Arab communities to pick olives from Kurds’ groves at gunpoint. The city’s Arab and Kurdish residents say this is an attempt to pit the two communities against each other.

Meanwhile, the Turkish state’s Ahrar Al-Sharqiyya gang continue to pillage the town. They have opened a sales office to sell the homes of people forced to leave Afrin. The gangs have leased and sold many houses through these offices.