UN REPORT ON SYRIA
Question on ‘war crimes’ returned to MP because of ‘personal opinion’
* Photo: Anadolu Agency (AA)
Click to read the article in Turkish
Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) Kocaeli MP Ömer Faruk Gergerlioğlu's Parliamentary question to the Minister of National Defense has been returned to him "because it had personal opinions."
Gergerlioğlu submitted the related question to the Speaker's Office on November 4, 2020 and requested that National Defense Minister Hulusi Akar answer his question about the United Nations (UN) report which also documents the war crimes and violations of rights committed by Turkey-supported Syria National Army in Syria's Afrin and Ras-al Ayn.
Among these crimes were plunder, abduction of people, torture of women and children, harassment, rape and destruction of cultural heritage.
Question returned
As reported by Diren Yurtsever from Mezopotamya Agency (MA), in addition to the UN report on Syria, the Parliamentary question of the MP also referred to the allegations of human rights organizations and human rights activists who have been working in the field in Syria.
Quoting from the UN report on the country, the Parliamentary question shared the findings of "At least 39 women were raped in Tal Abyad in February" and "In addition to sexual crimes, crimes were also committed against the language, culture and belief of the region."
However, this Parliamentary question has been reportedly returned to HDP MP Gergerlioğlu on the grounds that "it had personal opinions."
'Does Turkey have a report on it?'
Citing the allegations of rape, harassment and abduction of women as well as the attempts to change the demographical structure of the region, especially in Syria's Afrin and Ras al-Ayn, by the Syrian National Army, Gergerlioğlu asked the following questions to the Minister:
"How the acts of stripping women stark naked and exposing them on social media after torturing them to death be prevented?
"Was any action taken against the ones who committed this crime?
"There are allegations that the people are forced to migrate with the intention to change the demographic structure. Are these allegations true?
"Why is now Turkish being used in education, healthcare and trade in a place where people speak Arabic and Kurdish?
"Why was the use of Turkish currency encouraged?
"Is it true that over 6,000 people, including 1,000 women, were abducted?
"Is there a report prepared by Turkey regarding the crimes targeting women's identity, violence, bans, murders, abductions and rapes?
Report documents rights violationsPrepared by the UN Human Rights Council, "Report of the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Syrian Arab Republic", covering the period of January-July 2020, was published in September 2020. The report raises concerns about a series of war crimes such as murder, torture, sexual assaulyt, forced displacement and plunder, while underlining that several civilians were killed or disabled due to explosions and gunfire. As cited by Gergerlioğlu in his Parliamentary question, the report reads, "During the period under review, civilians residing in the Afrin and Ra's al-Ayn regions of Aleppo and Hasakah Governorates witnessed an onslaught of violations perpetrated by members of the Syrian National Army as well as shelling and vehicle-borne improvised explosive devices." "In detention, civilians – primarily of Kurdish origin – were beaten, tortured, denied food or water, and interrogated about their faith and ethnicity. One boy described to the Commission how he had been detained by the Syrian National Army Military Police in the city of Afrin in mid-2019, and held for five months in the Syrian National Army headquarters, before being transferred to the Afrin central prison and released in March 2020," says the report further and adds: "Syrian National Army members also looted and destroyed religious and archaeological sites of profound significance in the Afrin region. For example, Syrian National Army forces looted and excavated ancient artefacts, including mosaics, from the Hellenistic archaeological site of Cyrrhus as well as the Ain Dara temple, protected by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO)." |
(SO/SD)