17 January 2018•Update: 19 January 2018
ANKARA/AZAZ, Syria
The terrorist PYD/PKK has stepped up its forced recruitment of locals in Afrin, Syria, near Turkey’s southern border.
The PYD/PKK has mounted its pressure on civilians in Afrin, according to reputable local sources, who asked not to be named due to security concerns.
In the last two days, say the sources, the terror group has recruited by force 130 young people and sent them directly to the front line.
The young people were sent to the front line without getting any military training, unlike the terror group's previous practice.
Many families in Afrin are trying to hide their young family members from the terrorist group in their houses.
In recent years, the PYD/PKK has recruited thousands of young people by force in Afrin, including even girls.
Families and Afrin locals have protested the terror group on this point many times.
The PYD/PKK will also force shops in the district to close on Wednesday in order to protest Turkey's preparations for an operation on the area. The terror group said that the shop owners who fail to comply will be punished.
Afrin, situated in northwestern Syria, is one of the biggest districts in Aleppo, Syria.
Afrin, which also borders the Turkish provinces of Hatay and Kilis, is a gateway to the Amanos Mountains in Hatay, also known as the Nur Mountains.
Afrin has emerged as a hideout for the PYD/PKK since 2011, when anti-regime movements started in Syria, followed by the current civil war.
In time, the terrorist group’s presence in Afrin gained strength with support from the Assad regime and Russia’s tactical aid, along with U.S. backing east of the Euphrates River.
The terrorist group has seized 65 percent of the area of the Turkish-Syrian border.
The PYD/PKK is the Syrian offshoot of the PKK, which has been designated a terrorist organization by Turkey, the U.S. and the EU.
Since the mid-1980s, the PKK has waged a wide-ranging terror campaign against the Turkish state in which an estimated 40,000 people have been killed.
Reporting by Mohamad Misto, Selen Temizer, and Omer Koparan:Writing by Fatih Hafiz Mehmet
