Rojava_Revolution_Allegations_of_Human_Rights_Abuses

Investigating Claims of Rojavan Human Rights Violations

BREAKING! (8th January 2018)

Emilie Konig, #French jihadist woman, responds the allegations of #YPG torture

Published on Jan 8, 2018

French media has been spreading news about Emilie Konig, a French jihadist woman captured by our forces, that she faced oppression and was tortured by YPG. Konig responded the claims.

Konig said that all her and her childrens’ basic needs were met during her stay in the Hol refugee camp: “Some women told me that I would be persecuted, tortured and oppressed in YPG camps. I was asked by YPG to answer only a few questions when I was brought to the Hol refugee camp and my photos were taken. All these did not take more than 2 hours. Then they gave a shelter for me and my children to stay in. I was not subjected to any ill-treatment. Later, when I was told that I would be brought to another camp, I was so scared. I thought that I was going to be tortured in there. I immediately found a phone, called my mother and said I was afraid of the “possibility of torture”. Then I realized that there is no such thing. All my and my childrens’ needs have been being met on a regular basis here. I did not have any problems during my investigation. The investigation is a normal process. It is hard to experience it this way. But it is just an ordinary investigation process that consisting of questions and answers. Nothing else.”

BREAKING! (5th June 2016)

A Tweeter going by the handle "Raqqa_Sl" has been exposed as a disinformation operative/functionary:-

A separate page devoted to exposing these characters may need to be set up, as the information war against Rojava & the Kurdish Freedom Movement heats up.

BREAKING! (21st January 2016)

For further analysis:- Why is Amnesty International blaming Kurds and excusing ISIS crimes?

NOTE:- It appears Amnesty International have produced another bogus report about "Kurdish abuses" - this time pertaining to Iraq.

See also:- Kurds use bulldozers to ‘de-Arabize’ lands captured from ISIS – Amnesty

BREAKING! (19th January 2016)

Thanks to Tweets by "Dr Partizan", I have become aware of propaganda designed to create/inflame schisms between Assyrian Christians and PKK-esque Kurds appears to be designed to dis-inform Western Counter-Jihadists about the Rojavan Revolution.
See heading "Attempts to Create Schisms between Kurds and Assyrians" below.

Military Service, Mandatory Self-Defence Duty and Recruitment to the YPG - this document requires analysis.

The website KurdWatch which purports to be "...an independent Internet portal that reports on human rights abuses against the Kurdish population of Syria." appears to be a disinfo site which requires investigation.

The role of the thoroughly Syndicate-run outfit, the International Crisis Group, requires research and investigation - find and dig up article I wrote about them years ago.

There are allegations that the Rojavans - more specifically the YPG - have been involved in Human Rights violations. While the allegations are very serious, they are prima facie nonsense. The flippant manner in which the allegations are made - usually combined with the notion that the YPG is "a key ally of the US", or similar such disinfo - is strongly suggestive of a deliberate psychological warfare operation. While further research is currently required, it appears as though The Syndicate's ostensible "Human Rights" outfits are deliberately attempting to make it appear as though "Kurds working for the US are committing atrocities against Arabs". It may well be that a core group of Rojavan solidarity activists should be set up to expose and target this kind of disinfo. Potentially, law suits could be launched which may embarrass and curtail the activities of disinformationalists. Perhaps, a publicly available database should be set up which documents journalists who spread disinformation.

These can be broadly categorised as:-

Allegations of ethnic cleansing & expulsions

Syria: US ally’s razing of villages amounts to war crimes 13 October 2015 - Amnesty International's Press Release.

The following video is embedded within the above Press Release:-

Syria: ‘We had nowhere to go’ - Forced displacement and demolitions in Northern Syria - The report which the above Press Release & Video is based on.

Syria Kurds 'razing villages seized from IS' - Amnesty - The BBC

Thousands of Arabs driven out by Kurds’ ethnic cleansing - possibly the most irresponsible Western media report pertaining to this issue from The Times. Indeed, it is the only report I've seen so far which actually alleges ethnic cleansing - the thoroughly flawed Amnesty International report does not actually make that allegation.

Amnesty accuses US-backed Syrian Kurdish group of demolishing homes - Jersusalem Post.
A common denominator of all of the above articles is that all of them place some emphasis on the YPG as being "US allies".

‘Kurds liberated Tel Abyad, no displacement against Arabs’: Syrian opposition figure - note that this article is from 26th June 2015, some 3 months before the AI report.

YPG statement in reaction to Amnesty report - AI's report refuted.

Rojava fighters reject Amnesty report

Arab Co-president Of Cizîrê Canton Rejects A.I. Criticisms Of YPG

Arab tribes in Rojava say Amnesty International distorts the truths

Open Letter to Amnesty From UK YPG Volunteer - Partial Extract from Macer Gifford's open letter:- "It's upsetting for me to read this report because I know that the YPG has an excellent relationship with the Arab communities in Rojava. In many of the places mentioned in the report Arab YPG members would have been in the units liberating the areas. Before every major operation we are briefed about the rules of engagement – we were under no illusion that wrongdoing (including the accusations in the report) could lead to imprisonment. When you consider what the YPG is up against, then the high standards that it expects from its fighters are even more remarkable. We must be the only group operating in Syria that abides by the Geneva Convention!"

The following short videos represent further evidence of the absurdist nature of this Amnesty International report. It should be noted that all but one of these videos were made some months prior to the report - it is noteworthy that AI's researchers failed to interview those appearing in these videos or those providing a similar perspective.

Non-Kurds React To Recent YPG Victories in Serekaniye Area

Villagers Return Home After YPG Ousted ISIS

[PYD Co-Chair]Salih Muslim: "YPG Are Not Only The Kurds"

Arabs Speak at Kurds' Funeral Service

Til Hemis Residents Return Home After YPG/YPJ Clear Town of ISIS Mines (Published on Dec 21, 2015)

It is quite clear from all of the above that the Amnesty International report is - to put it very mildly - seriously flawed. It is probably unnecessary to create another refutation of it. What is worthy of further research is the actual reason(s) for the report's deployment.

A comparison between this and similar allegations made by "Human Rights" outfits against the Israelis and the Serbs would likely prove insightful.

Allegations of political repression

Syria: Abuses in Kurdish-run Enclaves Arbitrary Arrests, Unfair Trials; Use of Child Soldiers - an overview of HRW's allegations

Under Kurdish Rule Abuses in PYD-run Enclaves of Syria - HRW's actual report

Allegations of forcible recruitment of fighters, including child fighters

Syria: Kurdish Forces Violating Child Soldier Ban

Al-Qamishli: Christians resist forcible recruitment - this KurdWatch report can be dismissed as laughable.

Attempts to Create Schisms between Kurds and Assyrians

I recently (19th January 2016) received the following set of Tweets from "Dr Partizan" which deal with allegations made by pro-[Assad] Regime Assyrians against the YPG.

These Tweets reveal a propaganda pattern similar to one I stumbled across late last year, and which I chatted about with a friend on Skype:-

[14-Jan-16 9:37:57 PM] changeling84: Bit like this hit piece from Brietbart - http://www.breitbart.com/national-security/2015/12/04/report-pkk-invades-assyrian-villages-occupies-home-of-christian-militia-leader/ - where the article is (kinda sorta) about the PKK supposedly being mean to Iraqi Assyrians, but the featured photo is almost certainly of the YPS (Civil Defence Units) which operate in urban areas of Turkish Kurdistan.
[14-Jan-16 9:40:11 PM] changeling84: Brietbart appear to be playing on the anti-communist sentiments of naive (and outright dipshit) counter-jihadists who will likely, upon seeing the photo of YPS fighters, think "They look like Palestinians!"
[14-Jan-16 9:41:24 PM] changeling84: The Brietbart piece is sourced in part from AINA - http://www.aina.org/news/20151203044630.htm
[14-Jan-16 9:44:40 PM] changeling84: AINA seem to have an agenda of trying to create (or further inflame) a schism between Assyrian Christians and PKK-esque Kurds. Typically, they work through using inflammatory headlines and with innuendo embedded in the article, though the article is typically informative and when read carefully paints an opposite picture.
[14-Jan-16 9:45:15 PM] changeling84: "Christian Foreign Fighters Deserting Kurdish YPG in Syria Because They Are Communists" - http://www.aina.org/news/20150219185155.htm

The Tweets continue as follows:-

[2] From the news that flowed out afterwards, it can be confirmed that one Assyrian fighter died as well as one Kurdish civilian.

[3] The clashes were over disputes on new checkpoints being set up in the outskirts of Wusta neighbourhood (controlled by pro regime group).

[4] Despite Wusta being controlled by pro Regime groups, Asayish/YPG are allowed to enter it to move to other neighbourhoods.

[5] The checkpoints created by the Assyrian militias would prevent the Asayish from moving around Qamishlo, despite this being agreed.

[6] After the clashes, Assyrian pro regime journalists started spreading a lot of different outrageous claims over the incident.

NOTE:- The above seems highly plausible, however further confirmation data is required.

[7] Firstly, this website claimed an "Assyrian village" was attacked, when it was clashes over a checkpoint. http://hotair.com/archives/2016/01/13/kurds-attack-assyrian-christian-village-in-northern-syria/

[8] The above article claimed 3 YPG killed. It also claims that locals believe the YPG were responsible for New Year terror attacks.

NOTE:- The appropriately named "Hot Air" web rag appears to part of a campaign to pre-emptively create a schism between the Rojavan Movement and the Western Counter-Jihad Movement, using the "Assyrian Christians Vs Communist Kurds" red herring as a grammatical wedge. Unsurprisingly, it cites AINA as a source - Kurdish YPG Forces Attack Assyrians in Syria, 1 Assyrian, 3 Kurds Killed - and deploys a similar modus operandi in that the headline states different "facts" than the article itself. The article also cites an outfit calling itself "Restore Nineveh Now" and its director of operations, Jeff Gardner, who is spouting numerous brazen lies. As these lies are unlikely to be convincing to those familiar with Rojava, and are in English, a highly probable hypothesis is that this prop-agenda is designed to target the minds of naive Western "right wing conservatives". A thorough analysis of this campaign must be done shortly, and its complete destruction must be a key goal.

[9] An Assyrian man in Sweden told Al Jazeera that "The city of Qamishli is controlled by Assyrians, but surrounded by Kurdish fighters."

[10] The same man in Sweden also claimed 8 YPG killed. Qamishlo is not controlled by Assyrians. http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2016/01/assyrians-kurds-qamishli-160112165041894.html

NOTE:- The Al Jazeera is not particularly problematic as it describes this incident as an aberration - "This is the first time clashes between Assyrians and Kurds have taken place over the course of Syria's nearly five years of civil war." This may be due to the fact that Western Counter-Jihadists are not one of Al Jazeera's target audiences.

[11] This Assyrian site also decided to blame the YPG for the New Year's terrorist attack. http://www.assyriatv.org/2016/01/kurdish-ypg-militia-attacked-assyrian-gozarto-protection-forces-gpf-in-qamishli-syria/

[12] This journalist claimed 6 members of the "Marxist YPG" were killed. Again, blames YPG for the terror attack. https://stream.org/syrian-christians-staying-fight-freedom/

NOTE:- This Stream piece, much like the Hot Air piece, is riddled with brazen lies - this time written by a "journalist" calling herself Nancy Flory. Flory cites Jeff Gardner etc. The prop-agenda pattern seems quite clear - any schisms/conflicts/etc. between Assyrian Christians and PKK-esque Kurds will be reported to "Western conservative christian counter-jihadists" in terms of "Communist/Marxist/Muslim/blah blah Kurds picking on righteous Christians". The agenda behind this kind of propaganda - like all the anti-Rojavan propaganda I've so far come across - is fairly transparent. The Rojavan Movement and the Western Counter-Jihad Movement are (or should be) natural allies. If "far leftist Muslims" become allies with "conservative right-wing Christians" against the Globalist's Jihad, then The Syndicate's Islamisation agenda will almost certainly collapse. This propaganda must be destroyed, and those responsible for its dissemination exposed.

[13] So the common factors across all the propaganda pieces: "Marxist YPG" killed, 3,6 or 8 depending on who you ask.

[14] As well as this, the ludicrous claim that the YPG were responsible for the terror attack in December.

[15] Regarding the December terror attack, Kurdish Asayish killed 1 suicide bomber before he killed himself & cordoned off the area.

[16] So despite what pro Assad Assyrians will tell you, the Asayish actually prevented ISIS terror attacks from getting worse.

[17] So we have 2 huge lies used by Assyrians regarding the clashes, both of which are used to claim Kurds hate Assyrians.

[18] What the pro Assad Assyrians forget to tell you is that there are more Assyrians allied to the YPG than SAA.

Assyrian_Forces_Cizire_Canton.png

[19] They will also ignore Assyrians that say the regime are trying to cause tensions between Kurds & Assyrians.

[20] Do not believe the propaganda used by pro Assad Assyrians that try to place the Kurds in an evil light over the clashes. [END]

The abovementioned prop-agendists clearly do not represent the interests of Assyrian Christians in Rojava.

See the video حزب الاتحاد السرياني يدعم جهود الإدارة الذاتية في الحسكة Assyrians support unity and civil peace in

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