Syrians gather in northern Syria, Deprecating the Turkish Presence
Kobani – North-Press Agency
Yahya Omar / Fayyad Muhammad
Thousands of Syrians protested in the Autonomous Administration territories in north and east Syria yesterday evening, deprecating the Turkish presence in Afrin.
Thousands of Syrians from different cities, Deir ez-Zor, Raqqa, Al-Tabqah, Gire Sipi/Tal Abyad, Kobani, and Manbij gathered in Qara-Quzak on the eastern bank of the Euphrates river, 30 km southwest of Kobani, to participate in the picket.
The participants condemned the attacks of the Turkish military on northern Syria, in addition to the Turkish presence in Afrin.
The participants also raised slogans with the words “Enough of the Turkish occupation”, “By the brotherhood of peoples and the common struggle, we will remove the thrones of dictatorships.”
Anwar Muslim, the co-chair of the Executive Council of the Euphrates Region, (an administrative division including Kobani, Tal Abyad, and Ein Issa told North-Press “We, as Syrians, are able to solve our problems and we condemn the Turkish threats to our region, all of the components of the region have participated in picketing, and this is a clear message to the Turkish state that tries to occupy north and east Syria,” Muslim said, adding that Turkey is trying to dominate the region and restore the glories of the Ottoman state.
Mr. Muslim also called on the international community, the United Nations, the Security Council and the Iraqi Kurdistan Regional Government to declare their position on the “Turkish occupation”, asking them to “End the attacks by the Turkish state on civilians, and to stop changing the demography of Afrin and committing war crimes and crimes against humanity there.”
In the same context, Ibrahim al-Qaftan, head of “Future-Syria Party”, a political party was launched in Syria’s Raqqa, said that this great gathering expresses the “Voice of Right”, “we don’t want the return of tyranny or the Ottoman caliphate to our country, people are looking for freedom and cannot be enslaved in our time.”
Al-Qaftan pointed out that his party tries to engage with minds, in line with all components of Syria, whether they were Kurds, Arabs, Turkmen or any others, “For 40 years there were Syrians who had been wronged and deprived of identity because they were of another nationality,” he added, “the weapon of war has destroyed Syria and took it a hundred years backward”.