Kurds find torture center, prison cells of ISIL

As Syrians who fled the clashes between the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) and Kurdish forces have started returning to Tal Abyad after the jihadists' defeat, Kurdish militia have discovered a torture center and prison cells in the Syrian town. 

Daily Hürriyet has seen a few square-meter cells with no ventilation in the prison just 600 meters from the center of Tal Abyad. The facility was apparently a depot before the ISIL occupation. 

A special torture chamber stands in the middle, giving off a heavy smell.

A prison book left behind in the prison shows that most of the inmates were recorded as murderers and thieves. It is not hard to guess their ultimate fate.

"Rules of jihad" hangs on the walls of the prison, an interpreter translated. 

Some 23,000 people fled to Turkey because of the clashes, Turkish authorities have confirmed. ISIL was beaten nearly a week ago, after which the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) and the Women's Protection Units (YPJ), the military arm of the Democratic Union Party (PYD), closed the border gate at Tal Abyad-Akçakale so that it could clear mines and unexploded ordnance.

Local Turkish authorities confirmed that the YPG side of the border gate opened June 22.

The border gate from Turkey to Syria gate was opened at 10:20 a.m. on June 22 following an announcement in Arabic, before Tal Abyad residents rushed to the gate. 

The crowd began passing through the gates under the tight control of Turkish security forces. 

Some 1,300 people had passed the border as of noon. Some were seen crying as they bid farewell to their relatives who stayed on the Turkish side. 

Small trailers carried loads of vegetables and fruits to the Syrian side....