Revealed: The UK has spent \u00a3350-million promoting regime change in...<\/h2><\/a>\n READ MORE <\/i><\/a>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\nTorture<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\nThe Rojava Information Center (RIC), a news and research organisation I co-founded to cover the situation on the ground in north and east Syria, has interviewed<\/a> some of the hundreds of people forcibly disappeared, raped and tortured by the SNA.<\/p>\n\n\n\nMahmud, an 18 year-old ethnic Kurd, was beaten with a hose, burned with cigarettes, and denied access to food and water after attempting to cross Turkish-occupied Afrin in pursuit of work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He told the RIC that the forces controlling the prison where he was held were Jabhat al-Shamiya, an SNA militia linked to the Military Police. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Mahmud said: \u201cWhen we got to the [prison], they gathered around me and beat me with the butts of their weapons. They chained me and hung me from the ceiling. Or they made me lie down on the ground, with my feet up, and beat my feet with a hose, hundreds of times. They beat your feet until you lay like a dead body on the floor.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThey beat us, electrocuted us, removed our fingernails and toenails…”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
The SNA particularly targets women for rape, kidnap for ransom, and sale into sexual slavery, and the independent monitor Missing Afrin Women Project has documented<\/a> hundreds of such cases.<\/p>\n\n\n\nRIC researchers spoke to a Yazidi woman named Amara Kibare who was detained at a checkpoint in Afrin by members of Sultan Murad, another SNA militia. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ms. Kibare said: \u201cThey beat us, electrocuted us, removed our fingernails and toenails with a pincer, beat us with electrical cables. They brought us to our pain threshold. There was blood coming out from under our nails. They humiliated us, handcuffing us and making us wear black clothes.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
She also reported being insulted, humiliated and forced to fast during Ramadan despite her Yazidi faith.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u2018Orders come from Turkey\u2019<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\nThe UN states<\/a> that rampant abuses committed by the SNA \u201cmay entail criminal responsibility for Turkish commanders who knew or should have known about these crimes.\u201d It documents instances of uniformed Turkish officers witnessing abuse. <\/p>\n\n\n\nFor example, the UN found that in mid-2019 an underage boy was detained, strung up and beaten with a plastic hose in an Afrin detention facility, in the presence of both the SNA and Turkish-speaking officers in military fatigues. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Another woman was detained, beaten and threatened with rape in the presence of Turkish officers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Another UN report<\/a>, in March 2021, covering torture and abuse in SNA detention facilities, found multiple instances where Turkish officials were present during torture. They also maintained a permanent presence in detention centres notorious for torture and abuse.<\/p>\n\n\n\nMahmud told the RIC he complained about his treatment to a visiting Turkish officer, and was pistol-whipped and placed in an \u201cisolation cell smaller than a chicken coop\u201d by the officer in question.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe mercenaries don\u2019t do it by themselves,\u201d he said, referring to the SNA. \u201cAll of the orders come from Turkey.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n
\n RELATED<\/h3>\n \n \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n \n Revelations about UK covert operations in Syria challenge media narratives...<\/h2><\/a>\n READ MORE <\/i><\/a>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\nIslamic State<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\nSome SNA militias<\/a> such as Jaysh al-Islam, Jabhat al-Shamiya or Faylaq al-Majd, subscribe to an openly radical Islamic ideology; others are criminal organisations seeking profit through extortion. <\/p>\n\n\n\nIn Idlib, which is controlled by al-Qaeda offshoot Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) and remains outside Syrian government control, Turkish-controlled factions work closely in joint operations rooms<\/a> with HTS.<\/p>\n\n\n\nMore concerning yet, research I conducted with the RIC shows there are scores<\/a> of former Islamic State (ISIS) members, including top commanders, living and working under Turkish protection in the areas of Syria it has occupied since 2018 and 2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\nMost of these individuals are operating openly as part of SNA militias funded<\/a> by Turkey.<\/p>\n\n\n\nSince the 2019 Turkish invasion, the US has regularly carried out drone strikes<\/a> targeting top ISIS and al-Qaeda commanders being sheltered in territory controlled by Turkey. This occurs despite Turkey being its nominal coalition partner in the fight against <\/em>Islamic State.<\/p>\n\n\n\nMore broadly, Turkey\u2019s assaults on Syria have had a devastating effect on the SDF\u2019s ongoing efforts to defeat ISIS. Hundreds of ISIS members were able to escape<\/a> as a direct result of the invasion, often fleeing into Turkish-controlled territory. <\/p>\n\n\n\nThe group has “integrated numerous former ISIS members into its ranks”.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
Most recently, during a major ISIS uprising last month, Turkey continued to target<\/a> SDF forces with drone strikes and shelling as they traveled toward the site of a prison break.<\/p>\n\n\n\nISIS was able to use Turkish-occupied regions of Syria as staging grounds for the uprising, which has seen over 500 deaths on both sides, including scores of civilians and unarmed prison employees. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The uprising also allowed some hundreds of ISIS members to escape from prison, SDF officials claim<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\nThe US Treasury has sanctioned<\/a> one of the most notorious Turkish-sponsored SNA militias<\/a> in Syria, Ahrar al-Sharqiya, stating the group has \u201cintegrated numerous former ISIS members into its ranks\u201d. <\/p>\n\n\n\nIt accuses the militia of \u201cserious human rights abuses, including abduction and torture\u2026 unlawful killing… looting private property from civilians and barring displaced Syrians from returning to their homes.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ahrar al-Sharqiya attracted global attention following its brutal execution<\/a> in October 2019 of a leading female Kurdish politician, Hevrin Khalef. <\/p>\n\n\n\nThe US is now looking at sanctioning several other militias controlled by Turkey under the SNA umbrella, two interlocutors who have provided evidence to the US State Department told Declassified.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\nTurkish control<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n\u2018Peace Spring\u2019 was preceded by \u2018Operation Olive Branch\u2019 in 2018 against the majority-Kurdish region of Afrin. Both invasions drove out the Kurdish-led governance structure known as the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This had established what many observers saw as Syria\u2019s best standards<\/a> of security, rule of law, and protection of women\u2019s and minority rights. The AANES was replaced by the Turkish-controlled SNA.<\/p>\n\n\n\nTurkey also has formal, direct control<\/a> of the Syrian National Police, General Security Forces and Commando Forces.<\/p>\n\n\n\nAs the de facto <\/em>occupying power, Ankara is responsible under the Geneva Convention<\/a> to ensure \u201cpublic order and safety\u201d in the zones of occupation. Yet Turkey is able to use its SNA militias as a smokescreen, blaming them for human rights violations and claiming without follow-up that it will locate and punish those responsible.<\/p>\n\n\n\nBy sanctioning the SNA while ignoring Turkey\u2019s control of these militias, the US and UK can continue presenting themselves as defenders of human rights \u2013 and the generally popular cause of Kurdish rights \u2013 while continuing their collaboration with the Turkish government.<\/p>\n\n\n
\n RELATED<\/h3>\n \n \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n \n Britain\u2019s \u201crobust\u201d arms export controls are a fiction<\/h2><\/a>\n READ MORE <\/i><\/a>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\nArms trade<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\nBritain has sold<\/a> nearly a billion pounds worth of military goods to Turkey since 2016. Some of these exports have enabled Turkey to target the SDF, Britain\u2019s key partners in the fight against ISIS. <\/p>\n\n\n\nCampaign Against Arms Trade highlights<\/a> UK production of laser targeting systems for F-16 bomber aircraft, other warplane components, and bomb racks and guidance systems for Turkey\u2019s Bayraktar-2 drones. <\/p>\n\n\n\nThese systems have been used by Turkey to bomb targets in north and east Syria.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Even when the UK temporarily suspended arms exports to Turkey from October 2019, talks were ongoing<\/a> over UK involvement in Turkey\u2019s next-generation TF-X fighter jet project, with Rolls Royce and BAE Systems both mooted to participate.<\/p>\n\n\n\nThough Turkey ultimately opted for a US engine supplier, UK support for the Turkish arms industry continued, with all pre-existing<\/a> export licences remaining valid during the period of suspension.<\/p>\n\n\n\nTurkey is seen by UK ministers as an increasingly vital trade partner for the UK, with exports surging<\/a> in the months following Brexit and the signing of a new bilateral trade deal. <\/p>\n\n\n\nThe UK is Turkey\u2019s second largest export market, and talks are set<\/a> to begin this year on an even more expansive trade agreement.<\/p>\n\n\n\nConflict zones<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\nHowever, UK priorities are not simply about lining the pockets of arms manufacturers, and Kurdistan is just one part of the picture.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Turkey is aggressively expanding into multiple zones of conflict. It transferred its Bayraktar-2 drones to Libya and Azerbaijan during fighting in early and late 2020 respectively, defying<\/a> UN sanctions and an arms embargo. <\/p>\n\n\n\nAnd as of December 2021 Turkey was delivering the same weapons systems to Ukraine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Turkey has also deployed SNA proxy<\/a> militias<\/a> accused of multiple war crimes in Syria, to both the Libyan and Armenian-Azerbaijan conflicts. Thousands<\/a> of Syrians, nominally part of the Free Syrian Army, are now stationed in states where Ankara has strategic interests.<\/p>\n\n\n\n“Turkey is doing the UK\u2019s and the US\u2019s dirty work for them.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
In these conflicts, Turkey is doing the UK\u2019s and the US\u2019s dirty work for them, opposing Russia on behalf of NATO and gaining political, military and economic leverage in return. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The UK turns a blind eye to Turkey\u2019s use of lethal technology against Britain\u2019s Kurdish allies, and its deployment of jihadist militiamen across the Middle East and beyond.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Rojava Information Center (RIC), a news and research organisation I co-founded to cover the situation on the ground in north and east Syria, has interviewed<\/a> some of the hundreds of people forcibly disappeared, raped and tortured by the SNA.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Mahmud, an 18 year-old ethnic Kurd, was beaten with a hose, burned with cigarettes, and denied access to food and water after attempting to cross Turkish-occupied Afrin in pursuit of work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n He told the RIC that the forces controlling the prison where he was held were Jabhat al-Shamiya, an SNA militia linked to the Military Police. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Mahmud said: \u201cWhen we got to the [prison], they gathered around me and beat me with the butts of their weapons. They chained me and hung me from the ceiling. Or they made me lie down on the ground, with my feet up, and beat my feet with a hose, hundreds of times. They beat your feet until you lay like a dead body on the floor.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThey beat us, electrocuted us, removed our fingernails and toenails…”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n The SNA particularly targets women for rape, kidnap for ransom, and sale into sexual slavery, and the independent monitor Missing Afrin Women Project has documented<\/a> hundreds of such cases.<\/p>\n\n\n\n RIC researchers spoke to a Yazidi woman named Amara Kibare who was detained at a checkpoint in Afrin by members of Sultan Murad, another SNA militia. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Ms. Kibare said: \u201cThey beat us, electrocuted us, removed our fingernails and toenails with a pincer, beat us with electrical cables. They brought us to our pain threshold. There was blood coming out from under our nails. They humiliated us, handcuffing us and making us wear black clothes.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n She also reported being insulted, humiliated and forced to fast during Ramadan despite her Yazidi faith.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The UN states<\/a> that rampant abuses committed by the SNA \u201cmay entail criminal responsibility for Turkish commanders who knew or should have known about these crimes.\u201d It documents instances of uniformed Turkish officers witnessing abuse. <\/p>\n\n\n\n For example, the UN found that in mid-2019 an underage boy was detained, strung up and beaten with a plastic hose in an Afrin detention facility, in the presence of both the SNA and Turkish-speaking officers in military fatigues. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Another woman was detained, beaten and threatened with rape in the presence of Turkish officers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Another UN report<\/a>, in March 2021, covering torture and abuse in SNA detention facilities, found multiple instances where Turkish officials were present during torture. They also maintained a permanent presence in detention centres notorious for torture and abuse.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Mahmud told the RIC he complained about his treatment to a visiting Turkish officer, and was pistol-whipped and placed in an \u201cisolation cell smaller than a chicken coop\u201d by the officer in question.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe mercenaries don\u2019t do it by themselves,\u201d he said, referring to the SNA. \u201cAll of the orders come from Turkey.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n Some SNA militias<\/a> such as Jaysh al-Islam, Jabhat al-Shamiya or Faylaq al-Majd, subscribe to an openly radical Islamic ideology; others are criminal organisations seeking profit through extortion. <\/p>\n\n\n\n In Idlib, which is controlled by al-Qaeda offshoot Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) and remains outside Syrian government control, Turkish-controlled factions work closely in joint operations rooms<\/a> with HTS.<\/p>\n\n\n\n More concerning yet, research I conducted with the RIC shows there are scores<\/a> of former Islamic State (ISIS) members, including top commanders, living and working under Turkish protection in the areas of Syria it has occupied since 2018 and 2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Most of these individuals are operating openly as part of SNA militias funded<\/a> by Turkey.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Since the 2019 Turkish invasion, the US has regularly carried out drone strikes<\/a> targeting top ISIS and al-Qaeda commanders being sheltered in territory controlled by Turkey. This occurs despite Turkey being its nominal coalition partner in the fight against <\/em>Islamic State.<\/p>\n\n\n\n More broadly, Turkey\u2019s assaults on Syria have had a devastating effect on the SDF\u2019s ongoing efforts to defeat ISIS. Hundreds of ISIS members were able to escape<\/a> as a direct result of the invasion, often fleeing into Turkish-controlled territory. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The group has “integrated numerous former ISIS members into its ranks”.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n Most recently, during a major ISIS uprising last month, Turkey continued to target<\/a> SDF forces with drone strikes and shelling as they traveled toward the site of a prison break.<\/p>\n\n\n\n ISIS was able to use Turkish-occupied regions of Syria as staging grounds for the uprising, which has seen over 500 deaths on both sides, including scores of civilians and unarmed prison employees. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The uprising also allowed some hundreds of ISIS members to escape from prison, SDF officials claim<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The US Treasury has sanctioned<\/a> one of the most notorious Turkish-sponsored SNA militias<\/a> in Syria, Ahrar al-Sharqiya, stating the group has \u201cintegrated numerous former ISIS members into its ranks\u201d. <\/p>\n\n\n\n It accuses the militia of \u201cserious human rights abuses, including abduction and torture\u2026 unlawful killing… looting private property from civilians and barring displaced Syrians from returning to their homes.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Ahrar al-Sharqiya attracted global attention following its brutal execution<\/a> in October 2019 of a leading female Kurdish politician, Hevrin Khalef. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The US is now looking at sanctioning several other militias controlled by Turkey under the SNA umbrella, two interlocutors who have provided evidence to the US State Department told Declassified.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2018Peace Spring\u2019 was preceded by \u2018Operation Olive Branch\u2019 in 2018 against the majority-Kurdish region of Afrin. Both invasions drove out the Kurdish-led governance structure known as the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES).<\/p>\n\n\n\n This had established what many observers saw as Syria\u2019s best standards<\/a> of security, rule of law, and protection of women\u2019s and minority rights. The AANES was replaced by the Turkish-controlled SNA.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Turkey also has formal, direct control<\/a> of the Syrian National Police, General Security Forces and Commando Forces.<\/p>\n\n\n\n As the de facto <\/em>occupying power, Ankara is responsible under the Geneva Convention<\/a> to ensure \u201cpublic order and safety\u201d in the zones of occupation. Yet Turkey is able to use its SNA militias as a smokescreen, blaming them for human rights violations and claiming without follow-up that it will locate and punish those responsible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n By sanctioning the SNA while ignoring Turkey\u2019s control of these militias, the US and UK can continue presenting themselves as defenders of human rights \u2013 and the generally popular cause of Kurdish rights \u2013 while continuing their collaboration with the Turkish government.<\/p>\n\n\n Britain has sold<\/a> nearly a billion pounds worth of military goods to Turkey since 2016. Some of these exports have enabled Turkey to target the SDF, Britain\u2019s key partners in the fight against ISIS. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Campaign Against Arms Trade highlights<\/a> UK production of laser targeting systems for F-16 bomber aircraft, other warplane components, and bomb racks and guidance systems for Turkey\u2019s Bayraktar-2 drones. <\/p>\n\n\n\n These systems have been used by Turkey to bomb targets in north and east Syria.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Even when the UK temporarily suspended arms exports to Turkey from October 2019, talks were ongoing<\/a> over UK involvement in Turkey\u2019s next-generation TF-X fighter jet project, with Rolls Royce and BAE Systems both mooted to participate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Though Turkey ultimately opted for a US engine supplier, UK support for the Turkish arms industry continued, with all pre-existing<\/a> export licences remaining valid during the period of suspension.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Turkey is seen by UK ministers as an increasingly vital trade partner for the UK, with exports surging<\/a> in the months following Brexit and the signing of a new bilateral trade deal. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The UK is Turkey\u2019s second largest export market, and talks are set<\/a> to begin this year on an even more expansive trade agreement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n However, UK priorities are not simply about lining the pockets of arms manufacturers, and Kurdistan is just one part of the picture.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Turkey is aggressively expanding into multiple zones of conflict. It transferred its Bayraktar-2 drones to Libya and Azerbaijan during fighting in early and late 2020 respectively, defying<\/a> UN sanctions and an arms embargo. <\/p>\n\n\n\n And as of December 2021 Turkey was delivering the same weapons systems to Ukraine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Turkey has also deployed SNA proxy<\/a> militias<\/a> accused of multiple war crimes in Syria, to both the Libyan and Armenian-Azerbaijan conflicts. Thousands<\/a> of Syrians, nominally part of the Free Syrian Army, are now stationed in states where Ankara has strategic interests.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “Turkey is doing the UK\u2019s and the US\u2019s dirty work for them.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n In these conflicts, Turkey is doing the UK\u2019s and the US\u2019s dirty work for them, opposing Russia on behalf of NATO and gaining political, military and economic leverage in return. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The UK turns a blind eye to Turkey\u2019s use of lethal technology against Britain\u2019s Kurdish allies, and its deployment of jihadist militiamen across the Middle East and beyond.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\u2018Orders come from Turkey\u2019<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
RELATED<\/h3>\n
Revelations about UK covert operations in Syria challenge media narratives...<\/h2><\/a>\n READ MORE <\/i><\/a>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
Islamic State<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Turkish control<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
RELATED<\/h3>\n
Britain\u2019s \u201crobust\u201d arms export controls are a fiction<\/h2><\/a>\n READ MORE <\/i><\/a>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
Arms trade<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Conflict zones<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n