Martyrs’ Families Council calls for accountability over Sipan’s assassination

The Martyrs’ Families Council issued a statement today at the council’s center. The statement was read in Arabic by council member Dilber Mohammed and in Kurdish by member Ibrahim Hassan, with the participation of city residents and martyrs’ families, as well as members of civil institutions and councils and youth and women’s movements in the city.

The statement said, “At a time when the sons of our people are shedding their pure blood as the price for protecting this land and safeguarding its security and stability, we are periodically shocked by treacherous crimes committed under the pretext of backward tribal customs and a primitive culture of revenge that has no connection whatsoever to humanity or justice.”

It added, “The heinous crime that claimed the life of the heroic martyr Sipan constitutes a fully-fledged crime and a despicable act of treachery against a military serviceman who was carrying out his sacred national duty to protect community security and combat smuggling. His actions were solely aimed at upholding the law, not at pursuing a personal or tribal dispute.”

The statement explained, “The attempt to portray this heinous crime as ‘tribal revenge’ is nothing more than a cheap justification for extrajudicial killing and a blatant violation of the sanctity of human life, particularly since the previous incident had already been resolved and completely put behind us under the auspices of the region’s dignitaries and tribal sheikhs. Resorting in this manner to the laws of the desert and nomadic tribal culture reflects a level of baseness and dishonor that cannot be accepted or tolerated.”

The statement stressed, “As the Martyrs’ Families Council in the Jazira Region, and because martyr Sipan belonged to a family of resistance that has sacrificed two other martyrs for this homeland, we categorically and once again reject all forms of chaos and incitement to revenge. We warn that turning a blind eye to this crime and allowing it to pass without firm deterrence will open the door wide to guerrilla warfare and internal fighting that threatens civil peace and the entire social fabric.”

The statement called on “security and judicial institutions to intervene immediately and decisively to arrest the perpetrators and come down hard on anyone who seeks to shed blood or incite sedition, imposing the maximum legal penalties on them without leniency. We also call on all sheikhs and dignitaries to shoulder their moral responsibilities and contain inflammatory tribal rhetoric. The blood of our martyrs was not shed so that chaos could prevail, but so that everyone could live under justice and the rule of law.”

The statement also said, “What is taking place in Kobani, particularly the recent events at the prison that resulted in martyrdom of civilians, are fabricated incidents planned in advance by intelligence circles led primarily by Turkey, with the aim of disrupting the integration process.”

The statement continued, “Our people must remain vigilant and organized so that we do not fall into the traps of special warfare.”

It warned, “Arab tribes and Kurdish society must remain vigilant and cautious so that we are not dragged into conspiracies and internal wars in which we have no stake, and so that, as Syrians, we can all preserve the gains of the martyrs and build a homeland that embraces all segments of society.”

A-H

ANHA