Turkish flag back in Syria’s north after protesters removal
AZAZ, Syria (North Press) – The Turkish flag was painted again in al-Kaffayn (palms) Roundabout in the city of Azaz in the northern countryside of Aleppo, north Syria, just after one day of removing it.
On August 14, protesters removed the Turkish flag from the well-known al-Kaffayn Roundabout in Azaz city center during mass demonstrations in the Turkish-occupied areas in the Syrian’s north.
The city of Azaz and its countryside, north of Aleppo, have been controlled by Turkish forces and Turkish-backed armed opposition factions since July 2012.
The local council of the city, which undergoes a Turkish governor, ordered to repaint the flag.
Turkish governors run the local councils in the areas controlled by Turkey and Turkish-backed opposition factions in northern Syrian.
Protests
Last week, demonstrations and protests broke out in Azaz city denouncing the statements of the Turkish Minister of Foreign Affairs Mevlut Cavusoglu in which he called for reconciliation between the opposition and the Syrian government.
Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu revealed on sidelines of the Non-Aligned Movement meeting in Belgrade that he had held a short meeting with his Syrian counterpart Faisal al-Mekdad in Belgrade in October.
Cavusoglu called for reconciling between the Syrian government and the opposition to fulfill “permanent peace” as he claimed.
Following the Turkish calls for reconciliation, Syrian activists called for staging demonstrations against these statements.
During the demonstration, protestors removed the Turkish flags off the streets and burned some of them.
Several demonstrations were staged in the areas occupied by Turkey and its affiliated factions.
Several areas in Idlib governorate witnessed demonstrations.
It worth mentioning that in the demonstrations residents did not raise the Turkish flag as they used to do, and they only raised the revolution flag and signs with phrases rejecting the reconciliations with the government.
Threats
Department of Moral Guidance of the Turkish-backed Syrian National Army (SNA) issued a notice warning against insulting the Turkish flag.
The SNA symbolized the Turkish flag with the Syrian revolution one, describing those who assaulted it as “ignorant people”, threatening to judge those who will even try to assault it.
Endings
The military expert Ahmad Rahhal told North Press, “The steps, movements, and approaches of most of the Syrian opposition leaders, and the week performance that was followed by most of them, were natural preludes which led to such ends.”
Rahhal gave an example saying, “A few months ago, members of the political body of the Syrian National Coalition (SNC) discussed the idea of forming a national unity government in partnership with the Assad regime, and that their justification for putting up the discussion was that they were offers they received from some countries.”