SDC, Afrin IDPs in Aleppo countryside demand to protect Syrian borders from Turkish attacks
ALEPPO, Syria (North Press) – On Sunday, Syrian Democratic Council (SDC) and Afrin Region Council, operating in the northern countryside of Aleppo Governorate, northern Syria, demanded the international community to protect the Syrian borders from any Turkish attack and to fight Islamic State Organization (ISIS) in two separated statements.
The SDC said that the actions of Turkey, which is a member of NATO, provide a fertile ground for ISIS on its borders to re-emerge instead of fighting it.
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.
“Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, a leader of ISIS, and three other ISIS leaders were killed in areas held by Turkish-backed opposition factions. So, the Turkish threats to launch a military operation against northern Syria undermine the efforts to fight the ISIS and make chaos,” the SDC added.
It pointed out that the continuous Turkish threats destabilize the area, “thus NATO bears the burdens of a fragile state with a pragmatic administration, as Turkish president Erdogan exploits NATO to achieve his Ottoman dream.”
Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has recently announced plans to carry out another major military cross-border incursion into northern Syria. Erdogan specified his targets in the two northern Syrian cities of Manbij and Tel Rifaat.
In the same context, Afrin Region Council said that areas of northeastern Syria need “safe zone to protect themselves from the attacks of Turkey and ISIS.”
The Kurdish Autonomous Administration was founded in Afrin in 2014, but after the Turkish invasion of the region in 2018, it turned to Shahba region in Aleppo northern countryside.
“Turkey is trying to exterminate the people of northeastern Syria, pose a demographic change on the area and spread its violent actions under the pretext of protecting its borders through establishing a safe zone,” the statement of Afrin Region Council read.
On May 3, the Turkish president disclosed about his plan to settle about one million Syrian refugees in 13 Syrian areas, which are not the areas the refugees are originally from, adjacent to the southern border of Turkey starting from Azaz in the west to Sere Kaniye (Ras al-Ain) in the east.
“We are preparing a new project for the voluntary return of one million Syrian brothers who are in our country as guests,” Erdogan said.
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 house 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.