Turkish threats undermine stability – Ilham Ahmad
RAQQA, Syria (North Press) — Ilham Ahmad, the president of the Executive Committee of the Syrian Democratic Council (SDC), said on Sunday that Turkish threats undermine the national stability for Syrians.
This came in a meeting of the SDC that was held in the city of Raqqa, northern Syria, to discuss the Turkish threats of invading northern Syria.
The SDC is the political wing of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) and the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES). It was founded in 2015 and includes all the communities of north and east Syria.
The meeting was attended by female political activists and intellectuals from Raqqa and other Syrian cities.
Speaking on the sidelines of the meeting, Ahmad added that protecting Turkey’s national security needs to take place in Turkey not Syria, but Turkey assaulted and invaded Syria nonetheless.
She pointed out that the 30 km safe zone that Turkey keeps talking about contains prisons and camps for the Islamic State Organization’s (ISIS) militants and their families, and any disruption in these camps and prisons would directly threaten international security.
On June 1, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan renewed his threats of launching a military operation on northern Syria, to complete the so-called remained portions of the “safe zone” plan along Turkey’s southern border, and specified his targets in the two Syrian cities of Manbij and Tel Rifaat.
The Turkish “safe zone” is an area of 30-35 km (19-22 miles) deep into Syrian territory that Turkey started establishing in 2019 to settle Syrian refugees in an area along its border with Syria, as well as to keep it free from the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), which it regards as terrorists.
The AANES and SDC are not looking for a war, but rather for maintaining the stability of north and east Syria, and “working all available means to prevent a war,” Ahmad stated.
She believed that the Turkish threats lay the ground for ISIS to reorganize its ranks.
The SDC president concluded that the AANES and SDC have increased their diplomatic activities against the Turkish threats, and aim at revealing the real face of the Turkish schemes in Syria.