ARJIN DILEK ÖNCEL 

AMED — Images published by jihadists of Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham on social media platforms reveal acts of torture and massacres committed against civilians and captured fighters following attacks carried out in cooperation with ISIS, exposing new war crimes. 

The attacks on ISIS prisons resulted in the escape of dozens of ISIS members, allowing the group—once a global scourge responsible for bloody attacks in numerous countries, including Turkey—to return to its familiar pattern of activity. 

ISIS began operating in Syria in 2006 under the name “Islamic State of Iraq,” with the declared aim of “establishing a Sunni state,” before later changing its name to the “Islamic State of Iraq and Syria” (ISIS). 

ISIS, which also established a presence in Turkey, carried out numerous attacks. In 2014, ISIS members killed a police officer and a civilian soldier in Niğde. In 2015, 33 people were killed in a suicide bombing in Suruç, followed later that year by a double suicide bombing in Ankara that killed 104 people. In December of the same year, three police officers were killed during a security operation against ISIS in Yalova. 

In 2016, ISIS carried out attacks on Istiklal Street and Atatürk Airport, killing many civilians. In 2017, 39 people were killed in an attack on a nightclub. 

The attack on the “Labor, Peace, and Democracy Forces” rally held in Ankara on October 10, 2015—known as the Ankara Train Station Massacre—was recorded in history as the deadliest attack in Turkey. Khadija Çevik, then a parliamentary candidate for the Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) in Ankara in 2015, lost her university-student daughter, Sidar Başak, and her daughter’s aunt in the massacre. Çevik and her husband were also injured. The image of Khadija Çevik and her husband embracing amid the devastation remains etched in memory as a painful symbol of the massacre. 

Khadija Çevik follows with anger and concern the renewed massacres committed by jihadists of HTS and ISIS in Rojava, stressing that despite ISIS’s recent crimes in Turkey and around the world, the group continues to receive support and maintain its presence. 

“We lost 104 lives in the Ankara Train Station massacre. The pain of losing our children will remain engraved in our hearts until death. It is impossible to forget this brutal massacre or erase it from our memory. We will continue to commemorate our loved ones and will continue to struggle for those we lost until the very end,” she said. 

Crimes Against Humanity Do Not Expire 

Çevik referred to the investigations and trials that followed the Ankara massacre, noting that they revealed ISIS carried out the attack knowingly, yet only 17 defendants were convicted in the case. 

She stated that many ISIS members accused of committing the Ankara massacre and other atrocities were released. 

“The real perpetrators and planners of the massacre are free. Their locations, how they entered and exited Turkey, and how they received treatment in Turkish hospitals are all documented in court records.” 

Under Article 77 of the Turkish Penal Code, crimes against humanity are not subject to a statute of limitations and carry aggravated life imprisonment. However, although lawyers requested that the ISIS attacks be classified as crimes against humanity, their requests were rejected. 

Commenting on this, Khadija Çevik said: 

“How can this massacre not be considered a crime against humanity? It is unbelievable. There are many things in this country that we cannot comprehend. Every time we say, ‘This won’t happen,’ it happens,” adding that ISIS reorganized itself after the release of its members. 

Regarding the court’s annulment of a decision by the Gaziantep Governorate that had blocked an investigation into three police officers accused of covering up information about fertilizer smuggling prior to the October 10 massacre, Çevik noted that—ten years after the massacre—permission was finally granted to investigate the three former officers. 

“Until now, all requests to prosecute government officials were rejected. With this development, we will do everything we can to pave the way for their trial,” she said. 

New Massacres on the Horizon 

“Looking at what is happening now, we see that organized ISIS members in Syria and Turkey have reached power in a country under the name of a ‘regime,’” said Khadija Çevik, adding that ISIS and Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham operate together. 

“Al-Jolani is not far removed from the world of terrorism. Ultimately, he is an extension of ISIS and al-Qaeda. The Minister of National Defense and the head of the National Intelligence Organization are constantly present in Syria and hold ongoing meetings with al-Jolani. Why, during these meetings, do they not demand the handover of ISIS members? The answer to this question is completely clear. Yet we will continue to ask it. They do not demand the extradition of suspects whose whereabouts they already know.” 

She commented on the continued support for ISIS despite its atrocities: 

“Images were previously published of soldiers being burned alive, civilians being beheaded and broadcast on video. More recently, in an ISIS operation in Yalova, three police officers were killed. Despite all this, ISIS still exists and continues to receive support—because today, when it comes to the Kurds, everyone prefers to stand on a different side.” 

Khadija Çevik called for an end to the massacres and the siege imposed on Rojava. 

“People there are suffering from hunger and extreme cold. Aid is prevented from reaching them. Infants and children are dying from the cold. How can those who call themselves ‘Muslims’ justify the deaths of these children? Massacres are being committed in the name of Islam, in the name of jihad. Kurds and Druze are being targeted. We must raise our voices. We must say enough to these massacres.” 

She concluded by warning of the risk of further atrocities: 

“Before this operation, massacres were also committed against Alawites. I say with deep sorrow that new massacres are looming on the horizon. It is clear that these massacres will continue. We must unite and raise our voices on this issue.”