The Yazidi Foundation, in cooperation with Ezdina Foundation, held a special seminar at the United Nations building in Geneva, which dealt with the violations committed by the Turkish occupation forces against the people of Afrin in general and the Yazidis and Christians in particular.
The session was attended by delegates from the United Nations and representatives of international human rights organizations, where the Yazidi Foundation presented documents of the violations committed by the Turkish-backed terrorist factions against Afrin civilians, describing it as “systematic war crimes”, as the human rights commissioner, Leonardo Perez, who was running the session, referred to the state Turkey being an occupying state, “But the international community has not officially recognized this despite its unanimity that the Turkish state is an occupying state”.
Perez stressed the need for the United Nations to take urgent measures to end the occupation of Afrin, adding, "Periodic reports must be prepared on the violations that take place in Afrin, and sent to New York, to take an official form and a UN resolution is issued in this regard".
Hesso Hormi, director of the Yazidi Foundation said: “After we officially obtained the consultative status with the United Nations, we began holding discussion sessions about the tragedies that the Yazidi people suffered in general, and in Afrin recently at the hands of the Turkish occupation forces”.
Hormi added, “In the Geneva sessions, we discuss the reality of minorities in Syria, and the racist practices they are exposed to, as well as the issue of human rights throughout Syria. The Peace Center, the Ezdina Foundation, the Zagros Organization for Human Rights, as well as a Colombian Organization participating with us in organizing this session".
A short film documenting the violations against the people of the occupied Afrin was shown, prepared by the Ezdina Foundation, where the director of the foundation, Ali Isso, told our agency that the foundation is collecting documents and evidence about the systematic torture operations carried out by the Turkish occupation forces against Afrin civilians, and racist practices against the Yazidi people there”.
Isso stressed the need to take action to confront these violations, adding, “We held several meetings with representatives of European and international human rights organizations, where we explained the suffering of the Yazidi people, at the hands of the terrorist organization ISIS, during their attack on Shengal, and also at the hands of the armed factions that are supported by the Turkish state, we will hold other sessions soon to introduce the suffering of the Yazidi people”.
The seminar also shed light on the practices of the terrorist factions against women in Afrin, where the feminist activist, Avin Khalil, spoke about these practices, saying, “After the occupation of Afrin, the terrorist factions imposed coercive measures on women. In Afrin, the occupation forces are working to impose one religion on the people, regardless of the existence of multiple religions and beliefs".
Khalil called on the international community to take immediate action to stop the suffering of Afrin's people, “the Yazidis in particular” calling on the United Nations and the European Union to put pressure on Turkey to pull out its army and all terrorist factions from Afrin, and to ensure the safe return of its forcibly displaced people.
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