AFRIN – With the onset of the harvest season of pomegranates, grapes, and olives, Ahmad Sheikho, a resident of Afrin countryside, northwest Syria, in his fifties, is forced to receive a patrol belonging to Hamza Division, a faction of the Turkish-backed Syrian National Army (SNA), to pay taxes and royalties the division imposes on farmers in the region.
Under fake pretexts of “protecting crops from being stolen and preserving security,” the SNA factions in the Turkish-occupied Afrin and its countryside impose royalties and taxes on everything even stones.
Afrin has been under the occupation of the Turkish forces and their affiliated Syrian opposition factions, also known as Syrian National Army (SNA) since March 2018 following the so-called “Olive Branch” military operation to push away the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) under the pretext of protecting “Turkish national security.”
The operation caused the displacement of about 300,000 of the original inhabitants of the Kurds of Afrin who have been taking shelter in 42 villages and five camps in Aleppo northern countryside, locally known as Shahba region, since then.
Since 2018, original inhabitants in Afrin and its countryside have been facing persistent human rights violations, blackmailing, and exploitations.
These factions impose royalties on most of the crops and projects, though being little and monopolized by IDPs in the region. Sixty percent of these projects are run by the IDPs while the remaining 40 percent is run by the original inhabitants, who are always subjected to harassment.
With the start of the grape leaves harvest and the approaching pomegranate and grape harvest, Hamza Division and The Sultan Suleiman Shah faction, also known as ‘al-Amshat’, have been racing to impose royalties on the farmers.
80 percent of the Afrin region falls under the command of the two divisions after they managed, with the support of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS, formerly al-Nusra Front), to expel other factions to Azaz and areas in northeastern Aleppo.
The HTS’ leverage in the region is obvious either publically or through its allies Hamza and al-Amshat divisions.
Taxing each tree
The 51-year-old Ahmad Sheikho, a pseudonym for a resident of the town of Bassouta south of Afrin, for three years, has been forced to pay SNA factions for the production of his 20 hectares land of pomegranate, olive, grape, and peach.
Previously, he used to pay royalties to the Third Legion, operating within the SNA, this year Hamza Division will take the money under direct instructions by its leader “Seif Boulad”, according to Sheikho.
Sheikho, who has more than 5,000 trees, told North Press that the division imposes royalties on each tree in his land.
He explained, “The Third Legion used to take half a US dollar for each tree and nothing for the grape leaves harvest, while the Hamza Division imposes one USD for each tree and half a USD for each grape vine.”
He went further adding that the division has formed committees, whose task is to count the trees, in Bassouta, Ain Dara, Ghazawiya, and other areas since they do not trust the numbers the owners of lands say.
The farmer wandered, “Why would not they do so when these royalties enable them to earn hundreds of thousands of dollars every year?” adding that no one dare to evade paying the money it demands otherwise it will cut trees before the eye of the owner.
Koran al-Halabi, 48, a pseudonym for a resident from the town of Sharan in Afrin countryside, told North Press, “Royalties are imposed on everything in Afrin even on the small stalls that are placed on roadsides.”
Shop owners in the town are compelled to pay a monthly tax of between 10 to 15 USD to al-Amshat Division, each according to the project and profits it gains.
As for annual taxes imposed on olive trees in the town, farmers pay one USD for each tree and those with lands of more than three hectares, they are compelled to give 30 litters of olive oil.
Al-Halabi added that as wheat harvest has just started in some areas, farmers transfer their harvest to centers for storing wheat in Afrin; however, on the way to Afrin farmers of the Kurds are forced to pay royalties for each checkpoint they pass through.
He noted that the amount of the paid money differs from one checkpoint to the other. Additionally, drivers of harvesters have not been exempted, as others they are compelled to “pay money in turn for protecting them during harvest time, as they [factions] claim.”
Al-Halabi stressed that these royalties “have become too stressful for the residents in light of the dire economic conditions they face.”
Besieged
In the western part of Afrin, particularly in Sheikh al-Hadid region, al-Amshat imposes taxes and royalties on everything even stones, according to Abdurrahman Hdid, 40, a pseudonym.
Hadid, who owns a sawmill for stones and marble, and manufacturing concrete blocks in a village of Sheikh al-Hadid, is compelled to pay monthly 20-30 USD regardless of profits the sawmill makes to a committee tasked with collecting taxes and royalties.
He noted that he also pays between 5 and 10 USD to checkpoints in turn for allowing his products of stones, marble, and building materials to pass through.
Though being the only source for securing a living for his family of ten including his old sick parents, Hadid is considering the issue of closing his sawmill due to monthly losses he incurs and royalties the SNA factions impose.
In case he closes his sawmill, he will rely on his land’s products for his living though lands and harvest are all subjected to the SNA royalties.
He complains, “There is no party to complain to or to hear from us, we have nothing to do but to wait for things to be solved.”
Source: NPA
