02/18/2019

Northern Syria: Foreign Minister Maas accused of "window dressing"

Inactivity is a threat to the internal security of Germany and Europe – IS members must be submitted to identification procedures (Press Release)

from the viewpoint of the Society for Threatened Peoples (STP), the inactivity of the German government in the case of the IS fighters from Germany who are being held in northern Syria is "incomprehensible and irresponsible."Photo: Kamal Sido/ GfbV CC BY 2.0.

From the viewpoint of the Society for Threatened Peoples (STP), the inactivity of the German government in the case of the IS fighters from Germany who are being held in northern Syria is "incomprehensible and irresponsible." "The IS fighters must at least be submitted to identification procedures – otherwise the federal government might be endangering the internal security of Germany," stated Kamal Sido, the STP's Middle East expert, in Göttingen on Monday. He considered it is likely that, after a possible invasion of Turkish troops in northern Syria, the IS members will be released, enabling them to return to Germany.

According to Federal Foreign Minister Heiko Maas, it would be extremely difficult to submit the IS fighters to identification procedures – but the human rights advocate criticized his statement as "window dressing." Sido emphasized that it shouldn't be a problem to send qualified personnel to the northern Syrian region – provided that Berlin were prepared to cooperate with the Kurdish-dominated security forces. "This, however, is apparently avoided out of consideration for the Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan," Sido criticized. "The German government isn't even prepared to provide humanitarian aid in northern Syria. Only Erdogan's followers can rely on help, even if they are radical Islamists."

"Many of the imprisoned IS members have participated in crimes against humanity. They must be brought before a proper court," Sido emphasized. "We owe this to the Yazidis, Christians, Kurds, and other victims of IS in Iraq and Syria."

According to the autonomous authorities in northern Syria, more than 800 IS militants, 900 women and 1,200 children from 44 countries are being held in northern Syria. According to experts, up to 100 are from Germany, women and children included. The German security authorities estimated that more than 1,050 people from Germany have traveled to the war zone in Syria and Iraq since 2013 in order to participate in the "holy war".

 

 

Header Image: Kamal Sido/GfbV.