Protesters in Syria’s Kobani obstruct Russian-Turkish patrol
KOBANI, Syria (North Press) – On Monday, protesters from Kobani, northern Syria, blocked the road before a Russian-Turkish patrol, protesting the latter’s seizure of the Euphrates River.
For months, Turkey has reduced the flow of the Euphrates River to Syrian territory, causing life problems and population’s discontent in areas dependent on the river for drinking water and irrigation of agricultural lands.
The fifty-third patrol was scheduled to be conducted in the western countryside of Kobani, on Monday morning, but it was canceled after residents protested.
Russian and Turkish forces conduct joint patrols in the northeast regions of Syria, according to the Sochi Agreement signed between the Russian and Turkish presidents in October 2019.
Shiyar Daly, 28, a young man from the village of Jarqli, 20 km west of Kobani, stated that the village youths went out to prevent the conduct of the joint Turkish-Russian patrol, after Turkey cut off water to the area.
Farmers in the western countryside of Kobani estimate that more than 50% of agricultural land has been damaged as a result of the low water level of the Euphrates.
The lowering of the river’s water level has affected the underground wells in the villages and agricultural areas around the river.
“Turkey is fighting the Kurdish people in Afrin ,Tel Abyad, and Sere Kaniye (Ras al-Ain) regions, and it is fighting Kobani by cutting off water,” Daly added.
Dali indicated that they blocked the road so that the Turkish patrol would not pass, adding that they objected to the Turkish vehicles in their village because Turkey is fighting them in various forms and ways.
On April 26, the Russian and Turkish forces conducted the fifty-second joint patrol in the eastern countryside of Kobani.