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Middle East
From left: logo of Syriac Military Council, and the three fighters: Muhsin Gharbi Ahle, Jamil Gorges and Amad Jassim Suud. Photos: submitted
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — Three members of the Syriac Military Council (MFS), that were arrested by pro-Turkish militants in northern Syria in 2019 were sentenced to life imprisonment by a Turkish court last week. Their lawyer told Rudaw English on Tuesday that he will appeal the ruling.
Turkey launched Operation Peace Spring against the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in northern Syria in October 2019, invading Sari Kani (Ras al-Ain) and Gire Spi (Tal Abyad) towns. Despite a ceasefire, the fighting continued in some areas.
SDF acts as the military of Kurdish-held areas in northeast Syria (Rojava).
Jamil Gorges, Amad Jassim Suud and Muhsin Gharbi Ahli are three members of the MFS. They were resisting against the Turkish army and its Syrian proxies in Sari Kani but were surrounded by fighters from the latter force on October 13, 2019, according to their lawyer Mustafa Vefa.
They were accused by the militants to be members of the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) which is the backbone of the SDF - which is a US-backed multi-ethnic umbrella group that includes the MFS as well.
“Although they were not affiliated to the YPG, they handed them [to Turkey] forcibly. They [three fighters] told me that the Syrian Free Army told them that they would hand them to Turkey if they refused to pay them money. Because they had no money, they were handed over to Turkey,” the lawyer told Rudaw late Tuesday, referring to pro-Turkey militants who have changed their name to Syrian National Army.
Vefa also said that the pro-Turkey militants had beaten the hostages and when the Turkish army received them “they beat them too, taking testimonies from them forcibly.” The lawyer added that the three Syrian people said in their initial testimony conducted “under pressure,” that they were affiliated to the YPG but they later denied any links.
They were transferred to Turkey’s Sanliurfa province the next month and officially arrested by a court a few days later.
According to a court document obtained by Rudaw English, the three fighters denied any links to the YPG during their defense, saying they were “only Syriacs.”
They also denied having given their initial testimonies under pressure but added that they do not remember what they initially said. According to the court document, one of the fighters had initially said he was trained by the YPG and received a salary from the group.
YPG is seen by Ankara as the Syrian offshoot of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) - an armed group struggling for the increased rights of Kurds in Turkey. Ankara considers both as terrorist groups.
Sanliurfa 5th Heavy Penal Court sentenced the three Syriac people to seven years and six months on December 11 for being members of a terrorist organization. However, the province’s public prosecutor rejected the ruling, demanding a heavier sentence.
The court told Vefa on June 22 that they had sentenced the three Syriacs to life imprisonment. The lawyer told Rudaw English that they will appeal the ruling once it is published in the coming weeks.
Vefa said he has been the only lawyer defending the three Syriacs, but Christian groups in Mardin and Europe have been following the case as well. He described the ruling as “a war crime and violation of international law.”
MFS said in a statement on Tuesday that Ankara is violating international law by arresting their fighters in Syria and trying them in Turkey.
“During the past year, the Turkish judicial system tried three fighters of the Syriac Military Council in the Turkish courts in the Urfa region,” it said, adding they have been sentenced to life terms.
The Council called on the international community to “immediately intervene with the Turkish government and urge it to immediately release our fighters.”
This is not the first time the Turkish government has arrested Syrian fighters in Syria and transferred them to Turkey.
Human Rights Watch (HRW) said in a report on February 3 that Turkey and its Syrian proxies “have arrested and illegally transferred at least 63 Syrian nationals from northeast Syria to Turkey to face trial on serious charges that could lead to life in prison.”
“We recorded 60 cases, however based on reports from other organizations we expect around 200 people have been arrested and transferred to Turkey, and the process is ongoing until now,” HRW’s Syria researcher Sara Kayyali told Rudaw at the time.
The “illegal” transfers recorded by HRW took place in 2019.
Relatives of a number of the detainees were contacted by the Turkish-backed Syrian National Army, asking them for money to return their relatives – but “only one of the detainees’ families was able to negotiate and pay a US $10,000 fee to secure his release,” the human rights group said.
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