Tens of women participated in the press briefing and Arabic version of the statement was read by Emine Osman, Kurdish version was read by Henife Xelil and English version was read by Neda El Hisen.

The statement by Kongreya Star is as follows:

“From the beginning of Syrian crisis Afrin had embraced the peoples of Syria and had been a safe place for refugees. The occupying Turkish State has attacked Afrin and due to these assaults the people of Afrin were forced to immigrate from home. The occupying Turkish State has bombed the infrastructure of Afrin and historical and sacred places.

Occupying Turkish State and the gangs of Turkish State still carry on with their assaults against the people of Afrin. They are kidnaping people for ransom money; they are quartering families from Ghouta in Afrin and they do not let families to pass who want to return to their homelands in the rural sides of Damascus. Turkish State wants to change the demographical structure of Afrin.

According the reports of women’s organizations in Northern Syria and Afrin, Turkish State has killed some out of 145 women and injured and kidnapped others. From January 20 to April 99 women were injured in the clashes; 29 women were martyred; 5 women were raped and 12 women were kidnapped. Besides, the women are facing lots of difficulties in the migration circumstances.

We, as the sufferers of Turkish State and Turkish controlled gangs, are calling on the United Nations to intervene to Turkish State and to remove them out of our lands. We also are calling upon women and human rights organizations to protect rights of women of Afrin and calling on Turkish State and their gangs to stop their acts in Afrin.

We are the owners of these lands and Afrin will belong to its owners. We will continue to our struggle against the occupation of Turkish State and the gangs belonging to it.”