Turkish Soldiers Attack Rojava Residents Along Border

(ANF) Turkish soldiers severely beat and robbed 10 individuals from Rojava attempting to cross the Turkish-Syrian border into Northern Kurdistan.

The incident is reported to have taken place this morning, April 1, at 05:00 local time when 10 Rojava residents attempted to cross the border from the village of Gerdeniye in the district of Dêrik in the Cizîre Canton to Derbaciya in the district of Cizre.

Soldiers stopped the ten, before beating them with fists and rifle butts. Hisen Eyyub from Dêrik suffered a broken nose; Ali Muhammed from Til Koçer had his foot and nose broken, while Remiz Hemze from Qamişlo had his hand broken and Şadi Temo – also from Qamişlo – suffered a fractured skull.

Soldiers also took the men’s money and cell phones, as well as some of their identity cards.

This is not the first time that Turkish soldiers have attacked migrants from Rojava attempting to cross the border. Most recently, on April 7th, a group of around 20 soldiers severely beat young villagers from Rojava between the ages of 18 and 20. Some were badly injured and required hospitalization. In another incident on the evening of Saturday, April 5th, Nihat Mistefa was caught by Turkish soldiers near the border village of Hebilhewa in the district of Dêrik and also beaten. He also required hospitalization.

These most attacks followed an incident along the nearby border between Rojava and South Kurdistan, where KDP peşmerge opened fire at the Sêmalka Border Crossing around 00:00 this morning. 32 year-old Mevlit Nezir Heci Yunis, who was attempting to cross the border, lost his life in the incident. Yunis was from the village of Zihiri in the Berav region of Dêrik and is reported to have been married.