Turkey’s army cuts 2,717 olive trees in Afrin, Syrian Kurdistan. Photo: SM
AFRIN, Syrian Kurdistan,— Turkish army has cut 2,717 olive trees in the lands adjacent to Qarmatlaq village in Sheyeh province in Afrin canton of Syrian Kurdistan paving the way to build a barrier within people village possessions, on the artificial borders between Turkey’s Kurdish region and Syrian Kurdistan especially in the area between Qarmatlaq village and Halbly Police Station in the next part of the border, ANHA news reported.
Khyrieh Hikmat the Kurdish citizen of Qarmatlaq village said “more than 150 olive trees were cut by the Turkish occupation army and its possession went back to its family, and she stated that the olive trees were of people village possessions.
Khyrieh Hikmat demanded the International Society to afford responsibilities of what is happening on the border and put an end to the Turkish state excesses and restore the land to its owner.
1,300 trees also were cut in Qarmatlaq village by the Turkish army on Monday, to pave to way for building a barrier. In addition to that 600 trees were cut in Arab Jumaa village in Shara province.
Turkey which still denies the constitutional existence of Kurds, fears the creation of an autonomous Kurdish region in Syrian Kurdistan — similar to the Kurdish region in Iraqi Kurdistan — would spur the separatist ambitions of Turkey’s own Kurds who make up around 22.5 million of the country’s 79-million population.
On August 24, Turkey and Ankara-backed syrian rebels have launched an incursion into northern Syria to stop the US-backed Kurdish YPG forces from connecting Syrian Kurdistan’s Kobani and Hasaka in the east with Afrin canton in the west. Turkish military operations mostly focused on Syrian Kurdish forces and not Islamic State, observers say.
In 2013, Syrian Kurds have established three autonomous zones, or Cantons of Jazeera, Kobani and Afrin and a Kurdish government across Syrian Kurdistan (northern Syria) in 2013. On March 17, 2016 Syria’s Kurds declared a federal region in Syrian Kurdistan.
Syrian Kurds on Dec. 30, 2016 have approved a blueprint for a system of federal government in Syrian Kurdistan, reaffirming their plans for autonomy in areas they have controlled during the civil war.
Source Ekurd.com