SERE KANIYE (RAS AL-AIN), Syria (North Press) – On Monday, the Turkish government and their affiliated armed groups opened a new trade gate on the border with Turkey in Syria’s northeastern town of Sere Kaniye (Ras al-Ain).
The Local Council of Ras al-Ain city, which is affiliated with Turkey, announced on Monday the start of imports and exports through the newly established gate in the city, while the formal gate in the western side of the city remains open for non-commercial travel.
Land Seizures
The new gate is located in the northern side of the city, on land which formerly belonged to local Armenian Ara Kechichian, who fled the city after Turkey and their affiliated groups’ invasion in the beginning of October 2019.
Kechichian had already immigrated to Armenia in 2012 after the attacks of Ghuraba al-Sham and al-Nusra Front, but he returned back to the city after it was liberated by the Kurdish-led People’s Protection Units (YPG).
The struggle at the gate
Sources from the city of Sere Kaniye (Ras al-Ain) said that Local Council of Ras al-Ain city suspended their works two weeks ago because the Turkish Army had handed over the commercial border crossing to the al-Hamzat Division militia, who have no connection to the city’s residents.
The leader of al-Hamzat, Sayf Abu Bakir, appointed his brother Ahmed Polat Abu Bakir as the manager of the new gate, which angered the local council of the city, who demanded another person be appointed.
Meanwhile, al-Hamzat held demonstrations in the city, accusing the local council of misappropriation of funds and demanding a new local council formation in the city.
On Sunday, the local council of the city ended the suspension and returned to work in accordance with the requirements of the public interest and the service of civilians, according to their announcement.
Military preference
Turkey has a tendency to hand the commercial crossings it occupies to military groups, which angered people in Sere Kaniye, although there were discussions held by Turkish intelligence (MIT) in the region with both parties.
Turkish Armed Forces and Turkish-backed armed opposition groups took control of the cities of Sere Kaniye and Tel Abyad and their surrounding countrysides in October of 2019. Since this time, residents in the region have reported many human rights abuses, including theft, looting, assault, kidnapping and murder.
The campaign was put on hold after US and Russia struck separate deals with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to allow for the withdrawal of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) from a planned buffer zone which Ankara refers to as a safe zone.
Erdogan said in December that Ankara aims to resettle up to one million Syrian refugees in the buffer zone under its control, many of them from other parts of the country.
Local Kurdish populations and multiple international observers see this as an intentional effort by Turkey to ethnically cleanse Kurds from areas along its borders and implement demographic change in the region.
Human Rights Watch has released a report condemning the violence and demographic change which Turkey and its affiliated groups have inflicted on the region since the illegal invasion.