Human Rights Watch stated on Thursday that Turkey is responsible for certain abuses and war crimes in Syria, mainly against Kurdish residents of northern Syria.

The New York-based monitor said that the abuses were perpetrated by Turkish forces as well as armed groups backed by Ankara, in areas controlled by them in northern Syria.

HRW’s new 74-page document, in which the allegations were made, did not prompt a response from Turkey.

The report stated that as an occupying force in northern Syria, Turkey had the responsibility of restoring public order and security, protecting residents, and holding those responsible for abuses to account.

Since 2016, Turkey launched three major operations in Syria. These operations targeted Syria’s main Kurdish group, the People’s Protection Units (YPG), a U.S. backed militia that Turkey views as a terrorist organisation and extension of the banned Kurdistan Workers Party or PKK.

Since decades, the PKK has waged an insurgency against Ankara’s government.

The Turkish incursions, and the subsequent fighting that followed, has forced hundreds of thousands Kurds to flee their homes. HRW interviewed some of the Kurds who stayed and told them that they were subjected to abuse by Turkish troops, as well as a coalition of fighters funded and armed by Ankara.

Adam Coogle is HRW’s Middle East deputy director. He said: “Ongoing abuses will continue, including torture and forced disappearances of people who live under Turkish control in northern Syria unless Turkey takes responsibility for them and acts to stop it.”

Coogle stated that “Turkish officials do not simply stand by and watch abuses. They bear responsibility in their role as an occupying force.” In some cases, (Turkish officials have) been directly involved with apparent war crimes.

The report, entitled “Everything Is by the Power of the Weapon : Abuses and impunity in Turkish Occupied Northern Syria”, documents allegations of abductions and arbitrary arrests as well as sexual violence and torture. Human Rights Watch also claims that Turkish intelligence agencies and the army were involved in committing and overseeing abuses.

HRW stated that the Turkish government has failed to provide for the safety and wellbeing of civilians, and the lives of the 1.4million residents in the region are marked by lawlessness.

The report stated that Kurdish detainees had reported sexual violence including rape. Children as young as 6 months have also been detained with their mothers.

HRW stated that “responsibility for grave human rights violations and possible war crimes in Turkish-occupied territory remains elusive.”

Turkey announced that it would create a safe zone for refugees to return home in the northern part of Syria. About 3.6 million Syrians have fled to Turkey from the civil war that raged in their country for a decade.

Coogle stated that “Turkey’s occupation of northern Syria in part has created a climate of lawlessness, abuse, and impunity – it is the furthest thing possible from a ‘safe zone’.”