Turkification ... Turkish actions to annex occupied Syrian lands

During the past years, the Turkish occupation and its Syrian mercenaries have implemented a number of measures aimed at changing the identity of the occupied Syrian areas, such as Jarablus, Al-Bab, Azaz, Afrin, Serêkaniyê, and Girê Spî.

These measures included the so-called Interim Government and its affiliated councils’ announcement at an earlier time the preparation to issue identity cards, in a dangerous step that threatens the Syrian national identity.

After the demographics of these areas have been changed through the deportation of their original inhabitants and the settlement of thousands of mercenaries and their families, especially the Turkmen, in addition to raising the Turkish flags, the Turkish occupation imposed trading in the Turkish currency instead of the Syrian one.

Confirming the occupation with a presidential decree

In the last step to strike the foundations and identity of the Syrian state, the President of the Turkish occupation state, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, issued a presidential decree to open an institute and college affiliated with a Turkish university in the occupied Syrian areas.

About this, the Director of the Kurds Without Borders Center, Kadar Berry, said: “At first glance, when we hear about the opening of a university in the occupied areas, this means interest from the occupying state in these areas, but the truth of the matter is completely different, when a university is linked to the Turkish state, Turkish language and cooperative administration with Turkish universities, this means consolidating the occupation, and annexing these areas to the Turkish state.”

New Turkish state

In late 2018, the Turkish occupation opened a branch of Harran University in Al-Bab, while in Afrin, an Islamic secondary school similar to the Turkish “Imam Hatip” schools was opened, in addition to other schools, all funded by Turkey.

According to media reports, the Turkish occupation followed a Turkish policy in Afrin in particular, by removing any Kurdish symbol in the city, changing the names of the main streets and squares, stripping them of any reference to their Kurdish identity, and spreading Turkish flags and pictures of Erdogan in official departments, schools and public places.

In this context, Berry said that these measures "come through Turkish programming from the beginning. We spoke at the beginning of the Turkish occupation that they intend to annex parts of Syria, and this is what the Turkish leaders did not hide through their statements, whether the presidency of the state, the prime minister or the minister of defense," they stated that these areas are basically part of the Turkish state, and even in the maps that they put behind them when there is a press conference or talk about Syria, we find that they have already annexed these areas to the Turkish state, where they called it State No. 91, and it considers northwest of Aleppo through the areas of Jarablus and Al-Bab, including Afrin part of the Turkish state.”

Regarding the seriousness of this matter, Berry saw that it "lies in the fact that the Turkish occupation state is the one that controls this region, not the Syrian mercenaries as it claimed. It has ambitions in the Syrian lands and wants to cut off parts of the Syrian state, and annex them to it. Their statements and actions affirm that it is not only an occupying state, but rather wants to annex these parts to the Turkish state.”

He added, “This is Turkey’s history, old and new, and it is known that if it interferes in a region, it does not go out except by force, and considers this region part of its state. Unfortunately, and the truth is that the Turks and their leaders are very frank; they lie about everything except on the issue of expansion and occupation. They have declared repeatedly that wherever they are present, those are the lands of the Turkish state, and their talk is not only about Syria, but about other regions far from the Turkish borders, as they talk about Libya and many other regions.

The issue has gone beyond Turkification

Media reports said in 2019 that the so-called Afrin Council of the Turkish occupation mercenaries is administratively affiliate with the neighboring state of Antakya (Hatay).

A report by the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights in June 2018 stated that the Hatay governor had appointed two Turkish officials to oversee governance in Afrin region.

The director of the Kurds Without Borders Center, Kadar Berry, confirmed that the issue went beyond Turkification to officially annex these lands to the Turkish state, and said: “Before the issue of universities, these areas were administratively affiliated with the Turkish regions, or the Turkish governor in the areas adjacent to each region within the so-called Turkish state, this is not Turkification, but rather annexing parts of the Syrian lands to the Turkish state, and these actions violate all international laws and norms.”

What are the Syrians' options?

Regarding the Syrians ’options to resist the Turkish crimes, Berry said, “Unfortunately, the Syrians are out of step, we just found a statement from the Damascus government that is against the opening of such a university, and unfortunately, the portion that calls itself Syrian opposition is powerless. They are pawns at the hands of the Turkish state, even their statements in the current circumstances are in the category of the enemy and standing with the Turkish state. All their statements are against the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria which has stood in the face of the Turkish occupation, and is still resisting this occupation and this annexation through all legitimate methods.”

Who actually divides Syria?

He added, "In the end, the Syrian Democratic Forces are the only ones that resist the Turkish state and its occupation. Of course, the Syrian Democratic Forces now include many Syrian forces that were considered on the side of the opposition, but after the opposition’s intentions became clear, many of them defected, and found in the Syrian Democratic Forces a Syrian force seeking the good of the Syrian people and the good of the Syrian state, and all the statements in which they wanted to accuse the Syrian Democratic Forces of intending to divide and fragment Syria show the exact opposite.”

The Director of the Kurds Without Borders Center, Kadar Berry, concluded his speech by saying: “It has been clear that the occupation, and the mercenaries support them in addition to those who claim to be Syrians are the ones who want to divide Syria. As the regime does, its Turkish has actually done on the ground, and those who maintain a unified, democratic and decentralized Syria are the Syrian Democratic Forces and the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria.”

D.H

ANHA