The fourth anniversary of the start of the Turkish aggression on the city of Afrin and its countryside marks on January 20th, which ended with the occupation of the city and its entire areas after a historical resistance to the occupation which used all weapons to defeat the will of the local population who ran their own affairs, and after the occupation of the Afrin region by the Turkish army and its affiliated factions, this area passed through its most dangerous phase and the occupation of the city became a dangerous turning point in the history of the Syrian crisis.
The threats to the unity of the Syrian territory and the Syrian sovereignty were continuous and based on the set of systematic Turkification policies, Turkish crimes and violations against the indigenous people in Afrin, where tragedy, murder, torture, kidnapping, looting and the seizure of property are still existed in Afrin.
In Al-Shahba areas which are on the outskirts of Afrin, the struggle against life difficulties is continuous in the displaced camps where there are hopes of return within the harsh humanitarian situation and until now, the United Nations programs have not included the displaced camps in Al-Shahba areas, although the violations committed in Afrin systematically rise to the level of war crimes and crimes against humanity, as well as the systematic policy of demographic change against its original Kurdish population, as documented by human rights organizations and committees.
The Syrian Democratic Council calling on the international community and the Arab countries to oppose the Turkish expansionist policy, whose danger is not limited to the sovereignty and territorial unity of Syria, and to show responsibility for the difficult humanitarian conditions inside Afrin and its countryside. The Council stresses the need to investigate crimes and violations that are done by the Turkish regime, and the Turkish policies should be rejected because that aimed to occupy parts of Syria and target the political and cultural structure of the Syrian society by imposing the Turkish language. The council calls on all democratic Syrian forces to end the Turkish occupation of Afrin and rest of the Syrian regions, expel the Salafi and jihadi factions that were formed by Turkey under the name of “opposition”, bringing them to international courts and declaring that Turkey as an occupying power. The Council renews its call to all Syrians to work for the success of the national dialogue process and the strengthening of the home front, leading to national approaches that include work to end the occupation and eliminate terrorism, in order to establish a modern Syria according to civilized foundations that aren’t related with tyranny and respect pluralism according to a decentralized democracy regime.
On January 19th, 2022
The Syrian Democratic Council