Title: Jindires/Afrin: The Full Story of the Nowruz Eve Murder
Author: Syrians for Truth and Justice
Release date: May 2023

Under the Turkish occupation, the Afrin region, including Jindires town, became a stage for rampant human rights violations. The SNA factions perpetrate repeated and systemic patterns of violations with impunity and uncensored by the Turkish military—which backs them and practices effective control in the region. Since 2018, several independent local and international organizations, as well as concerned UN bodies, have documented large-scale violations, including killings, arbitrary arrests, forced disappearances, abuse, torture, pillage, and property seizures, as well as coercion of Kurdish residents to abandon their homes, hampering the return of locals to their original places of residence following hostilities, demographic change and practices of Turkification.

In this special report, Syrians for Truth and Justice (STJ) unveils the intricacies of the Jindires murder, shedding light on the details of the attack and the response from the de facto authorities in the region. The authorities used the tragedy of the Kurdish family as a tool for political competition, enticing polarization and further establishing their dominance.

In terms of methodology, the report builds from six extensive interviews. The field researchers with STJ talked to witnesses and sources close to the victims’ family. Three interviewees were on site when the assault took place and are informed of the proceedings of the investigation with the surviving relatives. Additionally, the researchers interviewed three military sources from the SNA, among them a Sharia official with the Ahrar al-Sharqiya/Free Men of the East faction, who revealed the “Da’esh mindset” underlying the practices of the Eastern Army/Jaysh al-Sharqiya, and its treatment of the Kurdish community in the area and the Kurds’ embrace of their ethnic identity and celebrations, including Nowruz. Moreover, STJ reviewed various open-source materials, written and visual, published on the Jindires murder, verified the information they present, and cited several.[1]