German Federal Government should make support for Syria transparent

The Society for Threatened Peoples (STP) has sent an appeal to all parliamentary groups of the German Bundestag to demand the Federal Government to make its support for Syria transparent. Further – with regard to the distribution of humanitarian aid that is co-financed by Germany – it would be necessary to at least demand equal support for Kurdish regions.

"According to our information, aid funds are mostly transferred – via the Foreign Office in Berlin – to regions that are controlled by Islamist militias and the Turkish regime. Hardly any of the funds reach the Kurdish-inhabited regions," criticized Kamal Sido, Middle East Consultant of the Society for Threatened Peoples, in Göttingen on Monday. Thus, there is the impression that only those who profess Islamic Sharia law and support the Turkish expansion policy can rely on help.

Last week, in the course of a donor's conference for Syria (in Brussels), more than 6 million Euros were collected for the war-torn and crisis-ridden country:  4.1 billion EUR for 2022 and 2.3 billion EUR for the next year. With a sum of 1.05 billion EUR, Germany will provide almost half of the total amount that was promised – as a means to improve the living conditions and perspectives of the people in Syria and in the neighboring countries that were affected by the war and that provided shelter to millions of refugees. Almost 15 million people in Syria are dependent on humanitarian aid, around 12 million people are living in fear of serious food shortages.

"At the latest since the beginning of the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine, the German Federal Government should have realized that it must not support dictators and autocrats such as Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan – as they are clearly not willing to respect international laws or minority rights," Sido stated. "We should show the victims of his policies in Kurdistan, Northern Syria, and northern Iraq that we really believe in our values and take our responsibilities seriously. Most Kurds and other minority groups have already lost all hope for a just global order. They are accusing NATO of only insisting on the principles of international law when it is in their own interest – mostly in connection with the alliance's geopolitical interests."

In the case of the Kurds, this issue is not only about ignoring and hushing up the crimes of the Turkish military, but also about active political, diplomatic, and financial help – as well as about arms deliveries to Erdogan. Following several wars of aggression against regions in Northern Syria – Afrin in 2018 and Sare Kaniye in 2019 – Erdogan is, meanwhile, responsible for daily attack on drone attacks on Kurdish, Yazidi, and Christian settlement areas, as a means to drive the people out of the country and to resettle external refugees to these areas. The Turkish drone systems are built with help from Germany.

Contact: Kamal Sido, the STP's Middle East expert: k.sido@gbv.de.