عربي English Türkçe اردو فارسى
Logo
Latest News
World

Turkish Opposition MP Calls for Probe into Kurdish Women Being Kidnapped, Sent to Libya

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu. (AP)
Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu. (AP)
TT
TT

Turkish Opposition MP Calls for Probe into Kurdish Women Being Kidnapped, Sent to Libya

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu. (AP)
Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu. (AP)

Turkish opposition lawmaker Tulay Hatımoğulları Oruç of the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) presented a parliamentary inquiry to Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu, raising questions on the kidnapping of hundreds of Kurdish women and girls by Turkish-backed factions in Afrin, northern Syria.

According Oruç some of the kidnapped women were taken to western Libya for sexual enslavement by the leaders of Syrian militias.

This coincided with Çavuşoğlu and his counterpart at the Libyan Government of National Accord (GNA), Mohamed Taher Siala, discussing bilateral relations, the latest situation after the ceasefire in Libya and the UN initiative to find a solution to the Libyan crisis.

Oruç launched parliamentary movements to investigate the shocking testimonies published by Kurdish women who escaped from Afrin during the Turkish offensive in 2018, and were raped and sold as slaves—some of whom were transferred to Libya.

“Are you investigating the claims that girls and women from Afrin were sent to Libya as slaves? Is your ministry aware of the sexual assaults in Afrin’s camps and prisons? Will it take the necessary measures to address these rights violations? Will it carry out coordinated activities with international organizations in this regard?” Oruç asked Çavuşoğlu during her intervention in parliament.

Testimonies of survivors from the Afrin region revealed the presence of hospitals in areas controlled by Ankara-backed factions which were full of the corpses of kidnapped women and girls.

These testimonies have been documented by the Missing Afrin Women Project, which tracks the disappearance of Kurdish women and girls in Afrin since 2018.

More than 1,000 women and girls are believed to be missing in Afrin alone after Turkey’s two-month Operation Olive Branch, which expelled the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) from the region two years ago.

Most Viewed

 
 
World

US Agency Focused on Foreign Disinformation Shuts Down

The State Department's Global Engagement Center has faced scrutiny and criticism from Republican lawmakers and Elon Musk. Mandel NGAN / AFP
The State Department's Global Engagement Center has faced scrutiny and criticism from Republican lawmakers and Elon Musk. Mandel NGAN / AFP
TT
TT

US Agency Focused on Foreign Disinformation Shuts Down

The State Department's Global Engagement Center has faced scrutiny and criticism from Republican lawmakers and Elon Musk. Mandel NGAN / AFP
The State Department's Global Engagement Center has faced scrutiny and criticism from Republican lawmakers and Elon Musk. Mandel NGAN / AFP

A leading US government agency that tracks foreign disinformation has terminated its operations, the State Department said Tuesday, after Congress failed to extend its funding following years of Republican criticism.
The Global Engagement Center, a State Department unit established in 2016, shuttered on Monday at a time when officials and experts tracking propaganda have been warning of the risk of disinformation campaigns from US adversaries such as Russia and China, AFP reported.
"The State Department has consulted with Congress regarding next steps," it said in a statement when asked what would happen to the GEC's staff and its ongoing projects following the shutdown.
The GEC had an annual budget of $61 million and a staff of around 120. Its closing leaves the State Department without a dedicated office for tracking and countering disinformation from US rivals for the first time in eight years.
A measure to extend funding for the center was stripped out of the final version of the bipartisan federal spending bill that passed through the US Congress last week.
The GEC has long faced scrutiny from Republican lawmakers, who accused it of censoring and surveilling Americans.
It also came under fire from Elon Musk, who accused the GEC in 2023 of being the "worst offender in US government censorship [and] media manipulation" and called the agency a "threat to our democracy."
The GEC's leaders have pushed back on those views, calling their work crucial to combating foreign propaganda campaigns.
Musk had loudly objected to the original budget bill that would have kept GEC funding, though without singling out the center. The billionaire is an advisor to President-elect Donald Trump and has been tapped to run the new Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), tasked with reducing government spending.
In June, James Rubin, special envoy and coordinator for the GEC, announced the launch of a multinational group based in Warsaw to counter Russian disinformation on the war in neighboring Ukraine.
The State Department said the initiative, known as the Ukraine Communications Group, would bring together partner governments to coordinate messaging, promote accurate reporting of the war and expose Kremlin information manipulation.
In a report last year, the GEC warned that China was spending billions of dollars globally to spread disinformation and threatening to cause a "sharp contraction" in freedom of speech around the world.