Lifting sanctions on Autonomous Administration areas upsets Turkey – Future Syria Party
DEIR EZ-ZOR, Syria (North Press) – Head of the Future Syria Party’s Deir ez-Zor branch, Thamir al-Shammari, said on Sunday that Turkey had rejected the US decision to lift Caesar Act sanctions on the areas held by the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES).
On May 12, the US Department of the Treasury issued a general license authorizing activities in northeast and northwest Syria in 12 economic sectors.
The sectors included agriculture, information and telecommunication, power grid infrastructure, construction, finance, clean energy, transportation and warehousing, water and waste management, health services, education, manufacturing, and trade.
“Allowing companies to invest in these areas is like a recognition of the AANES and a factor of security and economic stability in the region. It will also pave the way for a political solution,” al-Shammari said.
In June 2019, the US administration imposed sanctions that targeted Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and his inner circle to choke off revenue for his government in a bid to force it back to the UN and put an end to the country’s decade-long war.
It is likely that “the region will witness a spike in the terrorist sleeper cells’ actions which aims at causing instability and strife among our people,” al-Shammeri added.
He indicated that “The people of northeastern Syria need to have each other’s back and be aware of the plots schemed in the shadow by Iran and Turkey.”
Al-Shammari welcomed this decision, as “The arrival of international companies will move the economic wheel forward, creating a state of stability for a society that has been exhausted by war.”
According to al-Shammari, lifting Caesar’s sanctions has irritated Turkey, “and this is what we fear the most,” as it has already begun plotting to cause instability in the region.
Turkish Minister of Foreign Affairs Mevlut Cavusoglu said on Friday that the US decision to lift Caesar Act sanctions on AANES areas was “discriminatory” and “lacks objective criteria.”
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan also rejected the US decision, saying Turkey “cannot accept US lifting sanctions on Syria’s AANES-held areas.”
The Autonomous Administration was first formed in 2014 in the Kurdish-majority regions of Afrin, Kobani and Jazira in northern Syria following the withdrawal of the government forces. Later, it was expanded to Manbij, Tabqa, Raqqa, Hasakah and Deir ez-Zor after the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) defeated ISIS military.