Afrin.. Increase in violations with the peak of the olive harvest season
Yekiti Media
The armed factions loyal to Turkey imposed financial ransoms and new royalties on the olive crop in several villages in the countryside of Afrin, in Syrian Kurdistan.
Political activist Mustafa Sheikho said in a statement to Yekiti Media: The members of the Sultan Suleiman Shah Brigade, led by Muhammad al-Jassem and the economic official Abu Ghazi in the Maabatli/Mabata district and its villages, imposed half a US dollar on each olive tree, regardless of whether it was fruitful or not, for Kurdish expatriates and residents, after completing the taxes imposed on the season.
Sheikho added: Elements of the Sultan Suleiman Shah Brigade raided the homes of Kurdish citizens in the Ma’batli district and arrested Kurdish citizens who could not pay the ransom. They are:
1- Muhammad Ibrahim Jamo, 50 years old
2- Kifar, 40 years old
3- Shukri Hussein Jojo, 59 years old
4- Hussein Jojo, 70 years old
5- Ali Hamo, 39 years old
6- Muhammad Ali Jamo, 40 years old
7- Ali Hussein Bakr, 39 years old
8- Mustafa Bakr, 47 years old
9- Ali Mamesh, 50 years old
10- Khabat Hussein, 38 years old
11- Abdeen Omar Qaliyah, 43 years old
In the same context, members of the Sultan Suleiman Shah Brigade, led by Muhammad al-Jassim Abu Amsha, on 11/20/2024, roamed at night, supported by weapons, in the middle of the village of Qarmtalq, affiliated with the Sheikh al-Hadid/Shia district, knocking on the doors of the homes of Kurdish citizens in the village to pay the ransom in a barbaric and thuggish manner, and two people were exposed to severe beating and humiliation because they could not pay the ransom, and they are:
1- Jamil Bilal
2- Shiyar Walid Bilal (he is a person with special needs).
He pointed out that Saif al-Din al-Jassem, Abu Amsha’s brother, brutally tortured the young man Shiyar Walid Bilal in front of everyone, and he almost died due to torture because he could not pay a ransom of $12,000, and most of the men of the village fled from the village of Qarmtalq, affiliated with the Sheikh al-Hadid district.
He said: They imposed large sums of money on the people of Qarmtalq village that the citizens could not pay, and they are:
1- Hanif Akash $16,000
2- Yilmaz Abo $12,000
3- Fakhri Sheikho $30,000
4- Walid Bilal $10,000
Sheikho pointed out that the members of the brigade took advantage of the opportunity to buy a can of oil from the people of Qarmtalq village for only $30 in order to pay their taxes, and some Kurdish citizens are still fleeing their homes, who cannot pay the ransom, for fear of being beaten and tortured.
Violations and crimes have been ongoing in Afrin since the Turkish army and Syrian opposition factions invaded the Afrin region in the spring of 2018, including arbitrary arrests, forced detention, and the imposition of financial ransoms on the families of the kidnapped, with the aim of forcing the indigenous Kurdish population to migrate in order to change the demographic composition of the Kurdish city.
