4 years and ethnic cleansing continues against residents of occupied territories

Turkey has not ceased attacking and threatening the regions of NE, Syria, whether through its agents on Syrian soil or by itself. After the victory of the people of the region in the war against ISIS, which is supported by Turkey, Turkey directly began waging the war against the Syrian Democratic Forces.

Four years ago, Turkey invaded the regions of Serêkaniyê and Girê Spi, occupying an area 110 kilometers wide and 30 kilometers deep inside Syrian territory, in the third invasion carried out by Turkey. The first was from Jarabulus, Azaz, and Al-Bab in August 2016, then Afrin in 2018.

The "safe zone" and the Turkish trick!

Since the crisis in Syria turned into a major war, Turkey has sought to establish a so-called “safe zone” along Syria’s northern borders, which is the same area that Turkey considers to be part of the so-called “Misak-ı Millî.” Turkey claims a historical right to possess lands from the northern Syria, Iraq, and parts of Greece, Bulgaria, and Armenia since the Ottoman Empire.

  After occupying the border strip from Jarabulus until establishing points in Idlib, the next Turkish goal was to expand the areas it occupied in northern Syria, so it reached an agreement with Washington, during the era of former President Donald Trump, and the American envoy to Syria, James Jeffrey, to establish a security mechanism in the extended region between Girê Spi/Tal Abyad and Serê Kaniye/Ras al-Ain.

On August 7, 2019, that is, two months before Turkey began its invasion of the region, the US and Turkish Departments of Defense announced a joint security agreement, under which the two countries would conduct joint land and air patrols in the skies of the region from which the Syrian Democratic Forces would withdraw and destroy their existing fortifications. Indeed, they were conducted. Their first joint patrol in the border areas on September 8th.

By September 21, the two sides conducted 3 patrols, while the SDF carried out 3 operations to withdraw its groups and fill in the fortifications.

Meanwhile, Turkish President Erdogan presented to the United Nations General Assembly during the 74th session a map of the Turkish plan seeking to establish the so-called “safe zone” in northern Syria, claiming that completing this process may allow the return of two million Syrians to their homeland.

Erdogan placed in his map the area extending along the entire Turkish border at a depth of more than 30 kilometers, an area known for its dense population of Kurds, which shows the true Turkish intentions, especially since the goal is to settle other people in the region in a step to completely change the demographic composition of the region.

But things began to take a different turn after the withdrawal of Global Coalition Forces from the region on October 7, and two days later, Turkey launched an occupation attack against the areas of Serêkaniyê and Girê Spi, ignoring the security mechanism agreement.

War against peace!

The Turkish attack began around 16:00 on October 9, 2019, with artillery and air strikes, followed by a ground attack that was confronted by fighters of the Syrian Democratic Forces, which returned to defend the region. After several days, Turkey occupied the city of Girê Spi, while strong battles continued in the city of Serêkaniyê.

As a result of the indiscriminate bombing and barbaric Turkish attacks, tens of thousands of residents of Serêkaniyê and Girê Spi were forced to flee their homes, as more than 300,000 residents of the region fled towards the safe Autonomous Administration areas.

The attacks of the Turkish occupation state on the region were accompanied by wholesale crimes, most notably the bombing of the city of Serêkaniyê with white phosphorus, the assassination of the Secretary-General of the Future Syria Party, Hevrin Khalaf, on October 12, 2019, and the migration of the vast majority of the region’s population, especially the Kurds. A massacre was committed in Ras al-Ain on October 13, killing 11 civilians and journalists, including ANHA agency’s correspondent, Saad Ahmed.

On October 17, 2019, US President Trump announced the agreement with the Turkish President for a ceasefire process, but it was a sham. On October 22, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Turkish President Erdogan reached an agreement in Sochi stipulating a ceasefire with the withdrawal SDF from the border areas with Turkey to a depth of 30 kilometers inside Syrian territory, and the deployment of border guard forces of the Damascus government in the border sites and the conduct of Russian and Turkish patrols in the border areas to a depth of no more than 10 kilometers, except for the cities.

Despite this, Turkey continued to launch attacks on the region from the bases it established in the occupied areas, which later became a hotbed of instability and security in the region.

Unsafe areas!

Today, after 4 years of its occupation, the only feature of the region is chaos. Turkey has launched dozens of armed mercenary factions to spread everywhere, and from time to time they fight among themselves, disputing over influence and material gains.

Turkey also carried out ethnic cleansing against the Kurds in the region by forcing the indigenous people to emigrate and arresting the rest of them. This is in addition to the chaos of the spread of weapons, daily murders, the imposition of occupation rule by force of arms, and the spread of former members of ISIS mercenaries under Turkish cover, and the region is being taken as a launching pad for launching attacks on the Autonomous Administration areas.

These facts that occurred on the ground demonstrated the falsity of the Turkish claims about the occupied areas, and revealed the truth of the model that Turkey seeks to implement in Syria, while threats to occupy new areas continue and Turkish attacks against the region have increased at an increasing rate from then until the present day.

T/ Satt.

ANHA