Ongoing Detention of photographer Dalshan Qarh Chul

UPDATE: On 27 April, Dalshan Qarh Chul was released.

The Kurdish photographer and aid worker Dalshan Qarh Chul remains in detention at a Turkish military interrogation centre in Azaz city, northwestern Syria since her arrest on 31 March.     

Dalshan Qarh Chul is a Kurdish photographer and aid worker. Her work, which has been displayed at several exhibitions in Aleppo, shows the suffering of the Kurdish people and the humanitarian consequences of Syria’s military conflict. She began her humanitarian work at the Kurdish-Arab Relief Committee when Turkish military operations started in Afrin in January 2018.

On 31 March, members of Sultan Murad Division, one of Syria’s opposition militias arrested Dalshan Qarh Chul while she was resuming her media and humanitarian work in Afrin. She was in the process of photo-documenting violations to international humanitarian and human rights law, that have been committed by the Turkish military forces and Turkey-aligned Syrian opposition forces. Both forces are currently leading Operation Olive Branch, which was launched in the Afrin District of Northern Syria in January 2018.

After her arrest, Dalshan Qarh Chul was transferred to a Turkish military interrogation centre in Azaz city, which is currently under the control of Operation Euphrates Shield. This operation is also led by the Turkish army and its aligned Syrian opposition groups. 

Front Line Defenders condemns the detention of Dalshan Qarh Chul, as it believes it to be a retaliation to her legitimate and peaceful media work and her work in defence of the human rights of the Kurdish people.