Turkey rejects accusations by a human rights group that it committed abuses in Syria
Advertisement
Read this article for free:
or
Already have an account? Log in here »
To continue reading, please subscribe:
Monthly Digital Subscription
$1 per week for 24 weeks*
- Enjoy unlimited reading on winnipegfreepress.com
- Read the E-Edition, our digital replica newspaper
- Access News Break, our award-winning app
- Play interactive puzzles
*Billed as $4.00 plus GST every four weeks. After 24 weeks, price increases to the regular rate of $19.95 plus GST every four weeks. Offer available to new and qualified returning subscribers only. Cancel any time.
Monthly Digital Subscription
$4.99/week*
- Enjoy unlimited reading on winnipegfreepress.com
- Read the E-Edition, our digital replica newspaper
- Access News Break, our award-winning app
- Play interactive puzzles
*Billed as $19.95 plus GST every four weeks. Cancel any time.
To continue reading, please subscribe:
Add Free Press access to your Brandon Sun subscription for only an additional
$1 for the first 4 weeks*
*Your next subscription payment will increase by $1.00 and you will be charged $16.99 plus GST for four weeks. After four weeks, your payment will increase to $23.99 plus GST every four weeks.
Read unlimited articles for free today:
or
Already have an account? Log in here »
Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 01/03/2024 (763 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — Turkey has rejected allegations by a human rights group that Turkey bears responsibility for some of the abuses and possible war crimes carried out mostly against Kurdish residents in northern Syria.
Human Rights Watch said in a 74-page report released on Thursday that the alleged abuses were committed by Turkish forces and also by Ankara-backed armed factions in areas they control in northern Syria.
A senior Turkish Foreign Ministry official denied the accusations on Friday, insisting that the report by the New York-based watchdog “did not reflect the realities on the ground” and ignored Turkey’s security concerns.
The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity in line with government protocol, also insisted that Turkey fully respects “international humanitarian law.”
Since 2016, Turkey has launched three major operations inside Syria, targeting Syria’s main Kurdish militia — the People’s Protection Units or YPG, a U.S.-backed faction that Turkey considers to be a terrorist organization and an extension of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party, or PKK.
The PKK has waged a decades-long insurgency within Turkey. The conflict has killed tens of thousands of people.
The Human Rights Watch report — titled “Everything is by the Power of the Weapon: Abuses and Impunity in Turkish-Occupied Northern Syria” — documents allegations of abductions, arbitrary arrests, unlawful detention, sexual violence and torture.
The human rights group said that it also found that the Turkish army and intelligence agencies were involved in carrying out and overseeing abuses.
The Turkish official asserted that the Syrian opposition now runs and controls areas that were cleared of militants by the Turkish forces.
The opposition had made “significant progress” in improving human rights in those areas and were cooperating with U.N. agencies, the official said.