MSDOn January 20, 2024, it marks the sixth anniversary of the Turkish aggression on the Syria’s Afrin. That aggression followed the Turkish occupation of Jarablus, Azaz, and al-Bab in northern Syria, as part of Turkey’s attempt to divide Syria.
Turkish warplanes violated Afrin’s airspace by using bombs and missiles targeting innocent civilians, destroying their homes, institutions, schools, roads, and bridges in an attempt at a complete annihilation.
Turkey wanted Afrin to be a breaking point, but the people of Afrin turned it into a turning point with their unity and strength, demonstrating the invaders’ failure over 58 days to break the will of the Syrians in Afrin, who exercised their legitimate right to resist in defense of their lands, dignity, and sovereignty.
The Turkish occupation turned the Afrin region into a hotbed for terrorist factions affiliated with it, displacing over 250,000 original Kurdish inhabitants. Turkey resettled families of its affiliated factions and IDPs from other governorates and establishing settlement villages under the pretext of humanitarian and relief purposes, funded by regional countries involved with Turkey in the demographic change of the region.
Over the past six years, Afrin and its remaining original inhabitants have suffered from dire conditions due to the practices of the Turkish occupier and its affiliated factions, including killings, kidnappings, rape, looting of property, burning farmlands and trees, demolishing historical sites, and stealing their contents, alongside imposing harsh living conditions.
Turkey’s ongoing violation of Syrian territories in northern Syria and its attacks on the resources, infrastructure, services, and economy in northeastern Syria reaffirm that Turkey is an aggressive occupying state, extremely hostile, and plundering the resources of Syria.
We, as members of the Syrian Democratic Council (SDC), condemn the continued Turkish occupation of the Syria’s Afrin and other occupied areas in northern Syria. We call on the international community, represented by the UN Security Council, the European Union, and the Arab League, to fulfill their roles and work towards ending the Turkish occupation. We demand the expelling of Turkey’s affiliated factions and prosecution them in international courts, ensuring a dignified return for the original Kurdish inhabitants and compensation for the affected.
We emphasize for the local and international public opinion that Turkey’s continued aggression and destructive policies towards Syria and its people undermine the chances of success for a political solution according to UN Resolution 2254. It seriously jeopardizes the humanitarian goals of preserving human dignity, upholding justice, and promoting peace.
Our message to the diverse Syrian people, despite their differences in various issues, that there is an urgent need for unity, responsibility, and the initiation of a national dialogue to solve the Syrian crisis. This dialogue should thwart plans of entities that seek to undermine Syria’s unity and its people.
We, as the SDC, fully realize that the war of an imposed genocide on the Syrian people as whole cannot be won if we engage in it divided or become a tool for destruction by Turkey and others for agendas that do not align with the aspirations of the Syrian people.
On January 20, 2024
Syrian Democratic Council
