The people’s court of Rojava: A precursor to trial of commanders and perpetrators of war crimes – Abbas Mansouran

The People’s Court of Rojava: A precursor to trial of commanders and perpetrators of war crimes
Since 28 September 2024, Turkey has intensified its offensive in northeastern Syria, collaborating with Syrian forces after Assad’s regime change. The Turkish army continues to target civilians, critical infrastructure, and resources in a campaign of war crimes, ethnic cleansing, and genocide. This includes the use of banned chemical weapons like white phosphorus. The offensive has displaced over half a million people, while Turkey’s strategic aim is to eliminate Kurdish autonomy and replace it with an Islamic state. Reports of kidnappings, attacks on infrastructure, and atrocities continue in the region.
6:20 pm 13/02/2025

https://medyanews.net/the-peoples-court-of-rojava-a-precursor-to-trial-of-commanders-and-perpetrators-of-war-crimes

Abbas Mansouran
The Turkish government and its jihadist forces have intensified their offensive on northeastern Syria since 28 September 2024. This military campaign, particularly following the replacement of Assad with Ahmed Al-Sharaa, has been carried out as a joint operation under the command of the Turkish government and the ruling forces in Damascus. Effectively, this constitutes a de facto military occupation of Syria.
Rojava under Turkish aggression
Since the liberation of Kobanî in 2014, northeastern Syria (Rojava) has faced direct assaults from the Turkish army and its affiliated armed groups. The region has been turned into a “Gaza-like” zone, where, under the calculated silence of global media—especially after the shift in governance from Assad’s regime to an Islamic administration under Turkish control—bombs, fire, and death reign supreme. The Turkish army is now advancing the same atrocities—war crimes, genocide, and ethnic cleansing—previously perpetrated by ISIS against the autonomous administration of the region.
ISIS and other destructive groups, which posed threats not only to the Middle East but also to Europe, were ultimately defeated through the sacrifices of resistance forces in northeastern Syria. However, the Turkish army, equipped with advanced weaponry and supported by its proxy forces, has continued targeting civilians, critical infrastructure, energy resources, healthcare, education centers, and agricultural lands, including wheat and olive fields. Reports indicate the use of banned weapons such as white phosphorus, aerial bombings, military drones, tanks, and heavy artillery.
Use of chemical weapons in 2019
In October 2019, chemical bombs were used against civilians and resistance forces in the cities of Serê Kaniyê (Sarikanye) and Girê Spî (Tal Abyad) through drone strikes. As a volunteer in the besieged region, I participated in medical aid efforts at the Hasakah hospital, where I witnessed hundreds of people severely wounded or burned beyond recognition due to chemical bombings. Laboratory analyses conducted in Bern, Switzerland, confirmed that Turkey used white phosphorus in its invasion of Serê Kaniyê, Girê Spî, and surrounding villages in 2019.
Documented evidence and human rights reports
There is irrefutable evidence confirming the Turkish army’s use of chemical weapons. Part of this documentation was presented by human rights defenders from Rojava in a press conference in Paris on 10 January 2020 and later submitted to the UN Human Rights Commission and other international organisations on 27 January.
Reports and testimonies indicate that the use of white phosphorus is strictly prohibited under the UN Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons and the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW). These ongoing attacks are intended to eradicate the autonomous way of life in this part of Syria. Under international law, they constitute acts of occupation, crimes against humanity, war crimes, and genocide.
Turkey’s continued occupation and atrocities
The people of this region seek only the right to live freely, ensure women’s liberation, and preserve their indigenous way of life. Yet, Turkey has mobilised ISIS fighters and other jihadist groups to occupy cities such as Afrin and Serê Kaniyê, as well as numerous villages and vast territories across Syria.
To date, the Turkish government has killed thousands of civilians, displaced hundreds of thousands, and continues its relentless bombardment of Afrin, Shahba, Serê Kaniyê, and other regions in northern Syria. More than half a million people have been forced into internal displacement, while over two million are deprived of essential services such as drinking water, energy, bread, and housing security. The education and healthcare sectors have collapsed, with tens of thousands of students unable to access schools and healthcare facilities. Additionally, reports of kidnappings and abductions of women, children, and the elderly, as well as the systematic destruction of olive groves and homes, illustrate the continued war crimes and genocide being carried out.
Political and strategic implications
Turkey justifies these operations under the false pretext of combating the PKK and addressing security threats. Statements from Turkish officials have explicitly called for the “burial of Kurds alongside their weapons” and the “expulsion of resistance-linked Syrians from Syrian territory.” Ankara has also demanded the handover of more than 5,000 dangerous ISIS prisoners currently detained by the autonomous administration’s security forces, seeking to reintegrate them into its proxy groups.
President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and intelligence chief Hakan Fidan have consistently pursued aggressive policies against Kurds in Turkey, Syria, and Iraq, aiming for their complete elimination. The Turkish military regularly bombs southern Kurdistan, including Sinjar and the Qandil Mountains, and maintains a military siege over parts of northern Syria. Ethnic cleansing policies against Kurds in northeastern Syria continue, with strategic assaults on infrastructure such as the Tishreen Dam, the Qara Qozak Bridge, and villages around Manbij, Kobanî, Zirgan, and Tel Tamr.
The threat to Syrian stability
With the war between Assad and opposition forces winding down and Hezbollah’s withdrawal, Turkey, alongside its proxy forces in Damascus, has escalated its attacks on Kurds, Alawites, and other ethnic communities in Syria. The Turkish government aims to replace the autonomous administration with an Islamic Brotherhood-led state, enacting Arabisation policies that deny the existence of non-Arab ethnic groups.
Through Qatari funding, Turkey has systematically trained al-Qaeda affiliates in Idlib, creating an extremist emirate over the past six years. The transition from Assad’s regime to a jihadist-led government was orchestrated under the leadership of Hakan Fidan. The so-called “National Dialogue Conference” was another attempt to erase Syria’s diverse ethnic communities, condemned by Syrian grassroots movements.
The people’s court of Rojava in Brussels
The People’s Court of Rojava convened on 5–6 February 2025 in Brussels, represents a significant step towards prosecuting those responsible for war crimes, genocide, and crimes against humanity.
People’s tribunals are crucial in raising awareness, pressuring governments and international institutions, and providing platforms for victims to testify against perpetrators. These courts also help establish legal precedents for holding war criminals accountable.
*Dr Abbas Mansouran is an Iranian-born epidemiologist based in Sweden. His humanitarian work began during the Iraq War 1980s, focusing on trauma and bacteriology. Over the years, he has extended his research efforts to northern and eastern Syria, conducting independent studies on the region’s health conditions, particularly the impact of ongoing conflicts on civilian populations.