International community must stop Turkish demographic change – Syrian IDPs
AIN ISSA, Syria (North Press) – In a statement released on Monday, IDPs of Sere Kaniye residing in Tel al-Samen Camp north of Raqqa, northern Syria, condemned policy of the demographic change Turkey adopts on the Syrian soil that faces international silence.
The condemnation of IDPs of Sere Kaniye came in response to the silence of the international community and the human rights organizations regarding the Turkish project to deport Syrian refugees and resettle them in Turkish-held Syrian areas to where they do not belong.
On May 3, the Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan was quoted as saying, “We are preparing a new project for the voluntary return of one million Syrian brothers who are in our country as guests.”
In a video message broadcast during a ceremony for the construction of new homes for Syrian refugees in Idlib, Erdogan said, “Some 500,000 Syrians have returned to safe areas from Turkey with operations across the border starting in 2016.”
The Sere Kaniye IDPs’ statement added that Turkey is following the policy of the demographic change and strengthening settlement on the Syrian soil.
It also condemned remarks made by Turkish officials over expansion of settlements that Turkey began in northern Syria.
It called on the international community “to guarantee a safe return for all IDPs to their areas from which they were forcible displaced due to the Turkish aggression.”
Under the pretext of preserving the national security against terrorists, Turkey launched two separate military operations one in Afrin 2018 “Olive Branch” and another in Sere Kaniye and Tel Abyad 2019 “Peace Spring”.
As a result of the Turkish aggression, hundreds of thousands of indigenous people were displaced with most of them now residing in camps feeling homesick.