Ninety-five years have passed since the Pontian Genocide, but the Turkish government continues to erase the few remaining Christian religious and cultural artifacts in the region.

Turkey’s current invasion of Afrin, Syria, is similar to its invasion of northern Cyprus in 1974.

In October of last year, the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), backed by the United States, liberated the city of Raqqa from the Islamic State, who had proclaimed it to be the capital of its caliphate. Four months later, NATO member Turkey has opened a military campaign in the Syrian region Afrin against the same Kurds who led the fight against ISIS.

The ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) and the Gülen movement are actually two similar groups with similar political and religious goals.

The international human rights community should protest the arbitrary imprisonment of the Aksu couple rigorously since they are descendants of a people who have been historically persecuted, violated, and subject to genocide.