AANES on the refugee settlement project: Its objectives are destructive and dividing for Syria

In a statement issued today, the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria warned of the dangers of the Turkish settlement project on the unity of Syria's land and people, calling for effective action against the dangerous project.

The Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria confirmed that it welcomes the return of Syrian refugees, but to their areas and not to the areas occupied by Turkey.

The statement of AANES reads:

Public opinion statement:

The Turkish state continues to perpetuate its occupier policies and the ostentatiousness of the region, including Syria. This is through clear and public forms and details for the world and the Syrians, from support to terrorists and mercenaries, through imposing the Turkish language and dialects, to demographic change and changing the identity and features of the areas it occupies in Syria, with an open desire to make these areas blackmail cards against Syria and its people. And the campaigns it carried out, claiming that they were in order to achieve security and stability, were only actual attempts to create the spatio-temporal circumstance for the implementation of its policies.

Today, through the settlement that Turkey is establishing in Syria, the latest of which is the safe zone project, it seeks to complete its policies to create conflict and rivalry between the Syrians on the one hand, as well as demographic change, on the other. All these policies are drawn up to achieve the interests of Turkey and its policies against Syria and its people. In addition, this process complements what Turkey is doing in cooperation with some regional, including Qatari and Kuwaiti, associations in building settlements and securing places for residents who have no connection with the region. This facilitates Erdogan's project of settlement and demographic change. Therefore, we emphasise that anyone who colludes with this project contributes to the campaign of genocide and demographic change against the region and its people. Hence, no one should turn into a tool in the implementation of Turkey's projects and policies.

The project of forcibly returning Syrian refugees to other Syrian regions, from which they had been expelled, represents a dangerous project and a full-fledged demographic change. It is a Turkish endeavour to form a cordon in certain areas, and to displace its residents. This brings to mind the Arab cordon project that was created by the Ba’ath authority in the seventies of the last century. The two projects aim at one goal, which is to change the demography of the region.

While we stress the need to realise the dangers of this new Erdogan’s project in Syria, we call upon all the Syrian people not to be drawn into such hostile plans, in which the Syrians have absolutely no interest. We also stress the need for human rights, legal and international organisations to act quickly to prevent the development of such projects in Syria that threaten it and its people without exception. We, the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria, affirm that we will stand firmly against such plans and projects, which aim to divide Syria and its people, while we welcome the return of all our Syrian people voluntarily to their original areas from which they had been displaced.

T/S

ANHA