Damascus-Ankara normalization is occupation approval – Mazloum Abdi
QAMISHLI, Syria (North Press) – The Commander-in-Chief of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), Mazloum Abdi, said on Wednesday that any step taken by the Syrian government towards convergence with Turkey in the current time can be considered a normalization.
Abdi considered that this as a proof that the government is satisfied with the Turkish actions of occupying Syrian territories.
This came during a live televised speech through a dialogue forum organized by the Syrian Democratic Council (SDC) in the town of Fafin in the northern countryside of Aleppo, according to the SDC website.
The northern countryside of Aleppo Governorate, also known as Shahba region, houses IDPs of the Kurdish city of Afrin which was occupied in 2018 by Turkey following a military operation called “Olive Branch” to push away the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) under the pretext of protecting Turkey’s national security.
The operation caused the displacement of about 300.000 of the original inhabitants of the Kurds of Afrin who have been taking shelter in 40 villages and five camps in Shahba region since then.
There are about 16.000 displaced families from Afrin distributed over 42 villages and towns in Shahba region, in addition to 1.870 families, comprising 7.500 individuals, now living in the camps of Barkhodan, Sardam, Afrin, al-Awda, and Shahba, according to the Social Affairs and Labor Board of the Afrin region, currently operating in Aleppo northern countryside.
The area has been militarily protected by Russian and Syrian government forces since 2018.
“After four years of occupying Afrin and committing all types of violations in it, Turkish State, and through Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS, formerly al-Nusra Front), is now trying to pass its policies and achieve its ends by imposing its colonial, expansion projects and occupying more parts of the Syrian lands,” Abdi said.
Abdi expressed the SDF’s rejection to Syrian-Turkish convergence in light of the latter’s occupation of many Syrian territories.
The SDF Commander-in-Chief believed that the intra-Syrian dialogue is the only solution for the Syrian crisis, stressing their rejection of the Turkish policies.
Many Syrian political figures, clan leaders, and political parties’ representatives participated in the dialogue forum.