MSDThe Turkish state launched an aggression against Afrin on January 20th, 2018, and after 58 days, the people of Afrin, the People’s Defense Units, the Women’s Protection Units, and the Internal Security Forces (Asayish) proved that they had an important role in resistance and heroism which have no parallel in the modern era, where the Turkish army occupied Afrin with mercenaries, most of whom belong to terrorist organizations, whose numbers are estimated at more than fifty thousand in which Turkey has used dozens of planes and hundreds of tanks, as well as using internationally prohibited weapons, through which war crimes were committed against humanity. The Turkish aggression was the main cause of emigration of the majority of Afrin people from their lands, homes, and olive trees. The years of occupation also left catastrophic consequences for Afrin, its history, people, capabilities, and historical civilizational landmarks as well as looting, murder, kidnapping and systematic demographic change.
The people of Afrin and its democratic Autonomous Administration did not surrender their country and lands despite the unequal strength in number and equipment, so they preferred the resistance and sacrifice, as the number of martyrs exceeded a thousand, while countries that have long claimed human rights and the protection of the oppressed didn’t do anything. Most of those countries colluded with Turkey, and they let the people of Afrin and Syria down, and only issued some condemning statements. The silence of those countries and everyone who allowed Ankara to occupy Afrin, contributed to the occupation of Afrin, its massacres, crimes and violations against Afrin, which has Kurdish identity and Syrian affiliation.
We are as members of the Syrian Democratic Council at a time when we are calling for an immediate end to Turkey’s occupation of Afrin; we reiterate that the issue of liberating of Afrin is a priority issue not only for Syria, but for the entire region, in which starting from liberating of Afrin, Syrian sovereignty will be restored, and all Syrian regions that Turkey has occupied will be liberated as the real step towards a sustainable Syrian solution. We also call on the United Nations to assume its responsibilities for the safe return of the indigenous people of Afrin, expelling all intruders from it, and removing all aspects of the demographic change and Turkification policies implemented by Turkey in the Syrian territories as well as we call on to form specialized committees for investigating crimes committed by Turkey and its mercenaries in Afrin and holding them accountable. We call on all the Syrian national democratic forces to resist, unite and enhance the level of Syrian patriotism with its usual standards and principles in order to liberate Afrin and all the occupied areas, and to form an effective Syrian national democratic forum that believes in resolving the Syrian crisis according to its political path and establishing a modern Syria as a decentralized, democratic and pluralistic state.
On March 17th, 2022
The Syrian Democratic Council
