The International Forum on Demographic Change and Ethnic Cleansing in Afrin began on Sunday morning in Amude.

The first day of the Forum counted with the participation of Syria Research Center executive and political scientist Xalid Isa, Kurdish politician Hatip Dicle, North Africa and the Middle East Studies Center chairman Udo Ştanbax, TEV-DEM Diplomatic Committee spokesperson, Aldar Xelil, Turkey, Iran and Middle East expert Dr. Prof. Dr. Fereh Sabir Mihemed, South Kurdistan Minister of Human Rights and political scientist, Dr. Mihemed Ihsan, Director of Peace-Building and Human Rights Program, Columbia University's Institute for the Study of Human Rights, David Philips.

In his speech, David Philips said that he found the Northern and Eastern Syrian Autonomous Administration experience positive and important, and thanked former French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner for supporting this experience.

“I find the Rojava experience important, - said Philips - I didn't come here just to know Rojava. I came to expose the massacres suffered by the people of the region to the entire world. Such a democratic experience as well as women's freedom is important for Syria and the whole world. We will continue our struggle to get the whole world to know this experience. We must not bow our heads in front of darkness.”

The Syrian government is responsible for what happened in Afrin

Underlining that what happened in Afrin was a crime against humanity, Philips said: “What happened in Afrin should be explained through the cinema medium. The whole world should see the struggle carried out here. The Syrian government is responsible for what is happening and an investigation should be opened.”

There is a clear violation of the Syrian territory, Philips said, and continued: “if a state cannot protect its territory, it means that European countries have their share, here. There is the European Union. A review should be made about this. But at the same time the UN Security Council has to intervene. On the other hand, there is a need for images and photographs to document the crimes against humanity committed in Afrin”.

Need for an Afrin museum

Phillips made an appeal to the Northern Syrian Autonomous Administration, to collect all evidences of the massacres carried out in Afrin and create a museum.

Stating that the Turkish state committed a crime against humanity in Afrin, David Phillips said that it has also violated the UN material and moral rights of the people.

Philips condemned those who remain silent about what is happening in Afrin: doctors of the Turkish state, journalists, and civil society organisations actually legitimize Turkey’s human rights abuses and Turkey’s plan of assimilation of Kurds in Afrin, including forcibly converting people to Islam.

The Turkish state is a terrorist state

Philips said: “I am saying loud that the Turkish state is a terrorist state. The Turkish state is committing a crime in a planned way. The people of Rojava are a principled people and they are defending themselves. Everyone has to accept this now. The regional administration of Rojava should collect the necessary documents for the victims of the attacks of the Turkish state.”

Kurds should finally be free

Kurdish people in all the occupied parts of Kurdistan should finally be free, said Philips, adding: “Kurds, who have democratic projects, have paid the price not only for themselves but for the whole world. Evidence of these sacrifices are under everyone’s eyes and should never be forgotten. We will tell this to the whole world, because everyone needs to know.”