Turkey punishes opponents of its ambitions in Syria: local official in Deir ez-Zor
DEIR EZ-ZOR, Syria (North Press) – On Tuesday, an official in the Autonomous Administration said that the international community did not take action about Turkey’s seizure of the Euphrates River despite several appeals to human rights organizations in the world amid warnings of a humanitarian catastrophe, and that Turkey wants to punish the residents of north and east Syria for standing by the Autonomous Administration that stands in the face of Turkish expansionist ambitions.
Since last February, the Turkish government has continued to reduce the flow of the Euphrates River into Syrian territory, amid local and regional warnings of a health and agricultural disaster in the region.
Muhammad al-Amiri, the co-chair of the Euphrates Region in the Deir ez-Zor countryside, said that human rights and international organizations “did not move” to force Turkey to hold to the agreement signed between it and the Syrian government in 1989 on the water of the Euphrates.
He added to North Press: “There is an international and Arab silence on this crime, despite our repeated warnings of the possibility of a humanitarian disaster that threatens the lives of the people of northeast Syria.”
Al-Amiri described what is happening as “a defenseless people who are deprived of the most basic living conditions, because of the practices of the Turkish government against the residents of northeast Syria, because they stand by the Autonomous Administration against the ambitions and greed of the expansionist Turkish government.”
He pointed out that the decline in the level of the Euphrates River has led to large areas of agricultural land being out of service, threatening the livelihoods of many people in northeast Syria, most of whom depend on agriculture.
On Monday, Hammoud Hamadin, director of the Tishreen Dam on the Euphrates River, warned that the water situation of the Tishreen Dam Lake heralds an environmental disaster if the water supply from the Turkish side continues to decline, amid an increase in the need for water and electricity in the summer.
Al-Amiri called on the international community, human rights organizations, and international bodies and institutions to carry out their duties and stand in the face of the ambitions and practices of the Turkish government against the people of northeast Syria.