Forum in Syria’s Qamishli discusses human rights in Turkish-held areas
QAMISHLI, Syria (North Press) – Two human rights organizations held on Sunday in Qamishli city, northeastern Syria, a forum to discusses the human rights situation in the areas of Sere Kaniye (Ras al-Ain) and Tel Abyad.
This forum came coinciding with the third anniversary of the Turkish invasion of these two cities.
On October 9, 2019, the Turkish forces and their affiliated opposition factions, known as the Syrian National Army (SNA), launched a military operation against the city of Tel Abyad in the north of Raqqa and Sere Kaniye (Ras al-Ain) in the north of Hasakah.
The operation, named “Peace Spring”, led to the occupation of the two cities and their countryside in addition to the displacement of more than 300.000 of the region’s original inhabitants, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
The forum, which was named the First Forum for Victims in Northern Syria and held by Synergy/Hevdestî Association along with Syrians for Truth and Justice (STJ), discussed the human rights situation within the “occupied areas.”
Synergy Association Coordinator, Orhan Kemal, said that the forum discussed “presenting suggestions and recommendations regarding the available local and international Justice mechanisms, through which we can secure and safeguard victims’ rights in the future.”
The forum consisted of victims from both Sere Kaniye and Tel Abyad, representatives of Autonomous Administration in North and East Syria (AANES), civil society organizations, activists, and journalists who witnessed the Turkish invasion.
The AANES 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 militarily there.
Co-chair of the Office of IDPs Affairs of the Executive Council of the AANES, Sheikhmous Ahmed shed light on the humanitarian situation in the IDPs’ camps.
Ahmed described the situation there as “miserable” due to “the inaction of international [humanitarian] organizations – especially the UN – regarding providing aid for IDPs.”