We recommended US pressure Turkey withdraw from northeast Syria, USCIRF
QAMISHLI, Syria (North Press) – We recommended the United States pressure Turkey to provide a time to withdraw from northeast Syria, Nadine Maenza, President of the US Committee for International Religious Freedom (USCIRF), said on Sunday.
“We certainly hope that this will include giving back anything was taken in the occupied areas,” she added.
This came during a press conference held in the Foreign Relations Department of the Autonomous Administration in the city of Qamishli, northeast Syria, which included Maenza and Abdulkarim Omar, co-chair of the Department of Foreign Relations of the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria.
“It was disappointing just few hours after I arrived yesterday to find out that Kobani had drone strikes against civilians, killing one and injuring 11 including a four-old year boy losing his leg,” she noted.
“In the report prepared by us we said that the area that Turkey invaded and occupies have great violations and horrific crimes against Christians, Yazidis, Kurds and specially women in this community,” Maenza said.
It is clear that these drone attacks are destabilizing northeast Syria, and it is clear that Turkey’s goal is to get more land. So, it is important that the US and the international community speak up and pressure Turkey to stop these drone attacks, according to Maenza.
“In our report we made some recommendations in support of the Autonomous Administration. One of these recommendations is to support it politically.”
“We also recommend that the US government gives the Autonomous Administration in northeast Syria recognition as a regional, local government. Another important recommendation is to lift sanctions on northeast Syria,” she stressed.
“We discussed several issues, in particular, the Turkish violations against the communities of the region that destabilize the region, as well as the impact of closing the crossings on the economy of the region, which provides a suitable environment for the return of ISIS,” Abdulkarim Omar, said.