Danish diplomat says Turkey uses water to pressure AANES
QAMISHLI, Syria (North Press) – Turkey wants to make much pressure on the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES), said Nikolaj Harris, Denmark’s Special Envoy to Syria on Thursday.
In an exclusive statement to North Press, Harris said that Turkey would use water as a pressure point because it wants “to weaken the support of the people in northeast Syria for the autonomous administration.”
On July 3, the AANES declared Hasakah a disaster area because of Turkey’s continued water cut-off to the city and the surrounding areas.
One million people are suffering from a severe water crisis in Hasakah as Turkish forces and their affiliated armed opposition factions, aka Syrian National Army (SNA), continue to withhold water form Alouk water station, which is the main source of water for Hasakah and its towns and villages, said Sheikhmous Darwish, the groundwater geological expert in the AANES Water Directorate in a previous statement to North Press.
The Danish diplomat indicated that Turkey seeks to force the AANES to surrender to Turkey’s demands. “The Turks believe that severely reducing water flow from their country into Syria will weaken the autonomous administration, while remaining under the threshold which would force the Americans to act against Turkey.”