Legal Memorandum

Objet
Crimes Commi.ed Against the Kurdish Popula:on in Sheikh Maqsoud and Ashrafieh Districts
– Aleppo CityCrimes Commi.ed Against the Kurdish Popula:on in Sheikh Maqsoud and
Ashrafieh Districts – Aleppo City
Your Excellency Mr. António Guterres,
Secretary-General of the United Nations,
Excellencies, Members of the United Nations Security Council,
We have the honor to respectfully submit to your esteemed attention this legal memorandum
concerning the grave and ongoing crimes committed against the Kurdish civilian population
in the Sheikh Maqsoud and Ashrafieh districts of Aleppo City.
Our organization wishes to urgently draw your attention to the catastrophic and rapidly
deteriorating humanitarian situation in these Kurdish neighborhoods, amid escalating and
systematic violence and gross violations of international humanitarian law and international
human rights law. These violations pose a direct and imminent threat to the lives and safety
of hundreds of thousands of innocent civilians.
I. Relevant Facts
The Kurdish neighborhoods of Sheikh Maqsoud and Ashrafieh in Aleppo have, for several
days, been subjected to a tight military siege and continuous bombardment conducted by nonstate armed Islamist groups operating in military uniforms and under the institutional cover of
the Syrian army, with direct or indirect involvement from external parties.
These attacks deliberately target densely populated civilian areas, without distinction and in
blatant disregard for the principles of proportionality and military necessity. Approximately
400,000 civilians are thereby placed at grave and imminent risk, the majority of whom are
women, children, elderly persons, and internally displaced individuals who had previously
fled similar violations perpetrated by these same groups in other regions of Syria.
The repetitive and organized nature of these acts clearly demonstrates a systematic pattern
aimed at subjugating the civilian population through violence, spreading terror, and
deliberately creating conditions conducive to forced displacement.
II. Perpetrators
These military acts are carried out by the following armed factions:

• Suleiman Shah Brigade (62)
• Sultan Murad Brigade (72)
• Hamzat Division (76)
• Nour al-Din al-Zenki Movement (86)
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  These groups are internationally documented as having been involved in:
• War crimes;
• Forced displacement of populations;
• Practices of ethnic cleansing and enforced demographic change;
  particularly in Kurdish areas under Turkish occupation, notably Afrin, Serekaniye (Ras alAin), and Tal Abyad.
  The use of names of historical figures associated with phases of territorial expansion of the
  Turks and the Ottoman Empire is neither incidental nor purely symbolic. Rather, it
  constitutes a contextual indicator of an ideology grounded in ethnic domination and
  systematic persecution, thereby contributing to the establishment of criminal intent (mens
  rea) in relation to the crimes of persecution and ethnic cleansing.
  III. Legal Qualifica8on

1. Crimes Against Humanity
   The aforementioned acts constitute, prima facie, crimes against humanity under Article 7 of
   the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, in particular:

• Widespread or systematic attacks directed against a civilian population (Article 7(1));
• Persecution on ethnic and national grounds (Article 7(1)(h));
• Deportation or forcible transfer of population (Article 7(1)(d));
• Other inhumane acts intentionally causing great suffering or serious injury (Article 7(1)(k)).
  This legal qualification is further reinforced by previously documented evidence from
  Serekaniye (Ras al-Ain), where the proportion of Kurdish residents declined from
  approximately 85% to less than 1%, constituting compelling proof of a systematic policy of
  forced demographic change.

1. War Crimes
   These acts also constitute war crimes under Article 8 of the Rome Statute, including:

• Intentionally directing attacks against the civilian population (Article 8(2)(b)(i));
• Intentionally directing attacks against civilian objects (Article 8(2)(b)(ii));
• Launching indiscriminate or disproportionate attacks (Article 8(2)(b)(iv)).
  IV. Criminal and Interna8onal Responsibility

1. Individual Criminal Responsibility
   The provisions of:

• Article 25 of the Rome Statute (Individual Criminal Responsibility);
• Article 28 (Command Responsibility);
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  apply to direct perpetrators, leaders of armed groups, and all persons who ordered, facilitated,
  contributed to, or knowingly failed to prevent or punish these crimes.

1. State Responsibility
   The provision of tanks, heavy weapons, and armed drones to these groups, together with
   financial, logistical, and political support, entails international responsibility pursuant to:

• Article 16 of the International Law Commission’s Articles on Responsibility of States for
  Internationally Wrongful Acts (aid or assistance);
• Article 41 (prohibition of recognition or assistance in situations arising from serious
  breaches of peremptory norms of international law).
  V. Binding Interna8onal Obliga8ons
  Pursuant to:
• Common Article 1 of the Geneva Conventions (obligation to respect and ensure respect for
  international humanitarian law);
• The Responsibility to Protect (R2P) principle;
  the international community bears a positive and non-derogable legal duty to take immediate
  and effective measures to prevent the continuation of these crimes and to protect civilians
  from extermination, persecution, and forced displacement.
  VI. Existen8al Necessity and Required Measures
  The following measures constitute an existential and immediate necessity for the Kurdish
  population. Failure to implement them entails serious legal and political responsibility at the
  international level:
• The establishment of an urgent international mechanism for civilian protection in the
  affected neighborhoods of Aleppo;
• The imposition of an immediate, comprehensive, and verifiable ceasefire;
• The activation of independent international investigative mechanisms (IIIM / fact-finding
  missions);
• The referral of perpetrators to the International Criminal Court or the activation of universal
  jurisdiction mechanisms;
• The conditioning of any future political process in Syria on ending impunity and ensuring
  transitional justice.
  Legal Conclusion
  The continuation of these crimes in the absence of effective international intervention
  constitutes a grave failure of the international system to protect civilians and fundamentally
  undermines the credibility of international law.
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  A just and sustainable peace in Syria cannot be envisioned without international criminal
  justice and comprehensive accountability for all those responsible for gross violations of
  international law. Justice is not a political option; it is an international legal obligation that
  does not lapse with time.
  Please accept, Your Excellency, the assurances of our highest consideration.
  Respectfully submitted,
  Musa Kaval
  On behalf of the Executive Council of
  Bzava Aştiya Navxweyî – BAN
  Internal Peace Movement
  Contact:
  Email: bizavaastiyanavxweyi@gmail.com