Department of Foreign Relations calls for placing Afrin under international guardianship

The Department of Foreign Relations in the Democratic Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria published a statement today, Tuesday, condemning the crimes committed by the mercenaries of the Turkish occupation during the past two days in occupied Afrin.

The statement revealed that the Department of Foreign Relations obtained documents proving that the people of the isolated village of Kakhra, including women, elderly people and children, were subjected to live bullets and severe beatings while peacefully expressing their rejection of the practices of the mercenary factions.

The statement of the Department of Foreign Relations called on the international community, headed by the United States of America and the Russian Federation, to urge Turkey to end its occupation of the Afrin region and stop its demographic change plans.

The statement also accused Turkey of undermining the efforts of the international coalition to combat ISIS, through what it described as "providing a safe haven for ISIS/ Daesh mercenary leaders in the areas it occupies."

Full text of the statement by the Department of Foreign Relations in North and East Syria:

The criminal acts committed by the militias listed on the US sanctions lists in occupied Afrin have escalated to the point that the international community can no longer turn a blind eye to them. The deliberate killing of the defenseless Kurdish population has continued in a systematic and planned manner over the past few years. Since the Newroz massacre until today, Afrin has witnessed cases of killing and intimidation against the Kurds, the latest of which occurred on Monday, September 15, 2024, in the village of Kakhra, affiliated with the Mabata (Maabatli) district.

According to documents that reached the documentation offices of the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria, the unarmed villagers, including women, elderly people and children, were subjected to live bullets while peacefully expressing their rejection of practices that contravene international values and conventions imposed on them by the Al-Amshat militia, or what is known as the joint force. The women were also directly beaten, which resulted in many of them being injured and losing contact with each other.

The violations of the militias funded and loyal to Ankara against the indigenous people of Afrin, Kurds and Arabs, do not come out of nowhere, but rather are a direct implementation of Turkey's policies in the occupied north of Syria to establish its plans aimed at imposing Turkification policy the region and extending its political and economic influence in the long term so that it has the upper hand to control the future of Syria through the gate of protecting the Turkmen, and consolidating the demographic change in the region, which it began by displacing the Kurds and oppressing them and will continue to do so, in addition to robbing the Arabs of their will and preparing the conditions for normalizing its relations with the Syrian government in Damascus at the expense of the Syrian blood that was shed in order to get rid of injustice.

The actions of the terrorist militias supported by Turkey, represented by the Justice and Development Party and the Turkish National Movement alliance, in terms of seizing property and imposing royalties, by issuing decisions that prevent the people of Afrin from investing in the property of their forcibly displaced brothers, in order to legitimize the seizure of that property and impose fines and royalties, and forcing the people of the village of Kakhra to sign suspicious and illegal papers, these violations, which amount to war crimes, prompted the people of the village to go out in a peaceful demonstration to express their rejection of the occupation and the presence of the militias in Afrin. Here, the Security Council must seriously consider the actions of those militias and put them on the list of terrorist organizations.

We, in the Department of Foreign Relations of the Democratic Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria, are closely following the situation in Afrin and the occupied north of Syria in general. While we condemn the practices of the pro-Turkish militias against the people of Afrin, we call on the international community, led by the United States of America and the Russian Federation, to urge Turkey to end its occupation of Afrin and stop its ongoing demographic change plans against the Kurds. We call on the UN Security Council to discuss the issue of the occupied north of Syria and Afrin in particular and place it under international guardianship to create safe conditions for the return of its people and to expel the illegal militias that directly contribute to protecting and providing security for the leaders of the terrorist organization ISIS in Afrin and the occupied north of Syria, which undermines the efforts of the international community in combating terrorism. Establishing security in Afrin and ending the Turkish occupation will contribute to the stability of Syria and push the political process in the country forward and will certainly contribute to reducing the ongoing migration to Western countries.

T/ Satt.

ANHA