Afrin through the microscope of the law.... the crimes of ethnic cleansing and genocide

Afrin under the microscope of the law:
crimes of ethnic cleansing and genocide
Lawyer Imad Al-Din Sheikh Hassan

There is no doubt that these are two concepts that are not strange to the ears of the honorable reader, and we mean here the concepts of ethnic cleansing and genocide, but the precise and correct legal understanding of their meanings or the nature of each of them may be deficient among some, or in more precise terms we may find among them a kind of confusion or blending between them and the belief that both carry the same meaning or connotation as a result of the great similarity between them, and this is in fact a wrong and inaccurate perception, and it requires caution and attention, especially on the part of the legal expert and the specialist.
Therefore, we saw that we could, through the window of legal assessment of the situation in Afrin, or more specifically by addressing some of the crimes and violations committed there, give the reader and interested party a clear understanding of both concepts.
Perhaps the most appropriate way for us to delve into this proposal is to begin with the following question:
Are there crimes of ethnic cleansing and genocide, which constitute international crimes under international law, being committed by Türkiye and its affiliated armed factions in Afrin?
Certainly, answering this question requires our understanding first of what is stated in international law regarding these two concepts and the context and occasions for their application, and then understanding and knowing what is happening in Afrin secondly and the extent to which the two concepts, or one of them, are compatible and consistent with that.

First, in light of the absence of an agreed-upon definition of an international crime in legal jurisprudence, we can define it as: a conduct, act, or omission by a person or persons that would violate the rules of international law and threaten international peace and security, or that would constitute an aggression against a fundamental international interest protected by international law, with the presence of criminal intent, of course.
Perhaps the most prominent classifications and categories of international crimes in international law are those stipulated in Article 5 of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court of 1998. They are:
1-War crimes
2- Crimes of genocide or genocide
3-Crimes against humanity
4-Crimes of aggression
According to this classification, the following question arises:
Where do ethnic cleansing crimes fit into that classification and where does it fit in it?
In fact... although international law has recognized and acknowledged genocide as an independent crime and has devoted treaties and agreements to regulating it, such as the 1948 Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, it has not, on the other hand, recognized or acknowledged ethnic cleansing as an independent and specific crime, and we do not find any treaties or agreements regulating it as an independent crime. It is worth noting that the reports of international commissions of inquiry and committees have repeatedly mentioned the term, namely the term ethnic cleansing, such as the international reports issued during the conflict in Yugoslavia.
Therefore, if ethnic cleansing is committed, it can be described and classified as a crime against humanity or may fall under the scope of war crimes.
Now it is time for us to understand what is meant by both concepts, ethnic cleansing and genocide.

Ethnic cleansing: According to the prevailing definition, it is an attempt to creat