SDC urges Syrian national forces to end Turkish occupation

On Friday, the Syrian Democratic Council issued a statement to the public opinion, on the fifth anniversary of the start of the Turkish attack on the city of Afrin and its countryside.

The statement said, "Today marks the fifth anniversary of the start of the Turkish aggression against the city of Afrin and its countryside, which resulted in the occupation of the city after a legendary resistance against the occupation, which used all weapons to thwart the Autonomous Administration project.

It added, "Since the occupation of the Afrin, the region has been living a tragic reality at all levels. Fighting between the factions has become a constant state in the diaries of the city and its countryside, in addition to Turkish violations on the indigenous people.

It continued, "The city witnesses daily cases of kidnappings, murders, seizure of property, and looting of civilian homes, along with the unlawful torture of indigenous people in detention centers, all of which is added to the policy of Turkification in Afrin, its countryside, and all other occupied areas in northern Syria, where education was imposed in the Turkish language." As well as the imposition of dealing in the Turkish lira instead of the Syrian one, and changing the names of streets, public squares and schools, is irrefutable evidence of the policy of demographic change pursued by the Turkish occupation army in the occupied areas in Syria.

The statement added, "Not far from the Afrin region, thousands of its residents who are in the al-Shahba areas are still waiting to return to it, and they live in camps that have not yet been included in the United Nations programs, despite all these years, and the violations committed in Afrin in a systematic manner that consider crimes against humanity, according to human rights organizations.

The statement stated, " the region is experiencing signs of a process of normalization between the Turkish regime and the authority in Damascus.

This Normalization is coming and  the losers will be the Syrians themselves, as the biggest beneficiaries are Erdogan, who is preparing for the elections, as well as Assad, who is seeking to end international isolation that imposed on him, and this rapprochement will undoubtedly stop the already stalled peace process in Syria, through platforms outside the international consensus such as Astana and Sochi.

The statement called on the international powers and the League of Arab States to oppose the policy of expansion practiced by Turkey at the expense of its neighbors, the statement also called for taking responsibility for suffering of the indigenous people in Afrin and its countryside in terms of systematic violations that target  identity of the region.

The statement called on the international powers to "conduct independent investigations into the daily crimes and violations committed by the Turkish regime," and reject of Turkish policies to annex the Syrian regions."

SDC urge to expel the Salafist, jihadist and mercenary factions formed by Turkey under the name of the "opposition" and present them to international courts and declare Turkey as an occupying country.

SDC affirmed that "the solution to the Syrian crisis will only be through dialogue between all factions and components," and called all Syrians to exert all efforts to make the national dialogue path to fulfill national approaches that emphasize the necessity of ending the occupation and eliminating terrorism." leading to building a modern Syria according to civilized foundations that respect pluralism in a decentralized democratic system of government.

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ANHA