Five years after the Turkish invasion of northern Syria (October 10)

Five years after NATO member Turkey illegally attacked northern Syria (October 9, 2019), the German Federal Government continues its cronyism with aggressor Erdogan, criticized the Society for Threatened Peoples (STP). 
“Despite Turkey’s illegal military offensive and the occupation of the Kurdish region of Serekaniye (“Ras al-Ain” in Arabic) in 2019, the German Federal is once again making deals with Turkey at the expense of minority and human rights. Due to the recent deportation agreement with the Turkish President, Kurdish people and Turkish democrats who hoped Germany could protect them from Erdogan’s regime could be sent back to Turkey,” criticized Dr. Kamal Sido, the STP’s Middle East Consultant, in Göttingen today. 

“Instead of protecting the Kurds and critics of President Erdoğan, Scholz and Baerbock and handing them over to their hangmen. In Turkey, they would have to fear decades-long prison sentences – as in the case of the Kurdish politician Selahattin Demirtaş. He and thousands of other Kurdish and Turkish politicians, human rights advocates, and media workers were put in jail only for criticizing Erdoğan’s military invasions into other countries and the human rights violations in the country itself – and for demanding a peaceful and just solution to the Kurdish question,” the human rights activist stated. 

“Anyone who demands Putin to respect international law and human rights should not forget to do the same towards NATO partner Turkey,” the Middle East expert criticized the German Federal Government’s policy on Turkey. Further, he demanded a public condemnation of the Turkish military invasion five years ago, which violated international law, and a withdrawal of the Turkish troops.  

On October 9, 2019, Turkish troops and their Islamist allies had attacked the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), which were fighting against IS. Turkey and its allies occupied Serekaniye (Ras al Ain) and Tall Abyad, which were controlled by the SDF, displacing almost the entire Kurdish population as well as members of ethnic minorities – such as the Armenians, Assyrian/Aramaic, Christians, Yazidis, and Alevis. “Of the once 50,000 Kurdish inhabitants of Ras al Ain, there are only around 100 left – and only a few of them are of Yazidi faith,” the Middle East expert reported. “Today, Islamic Sharia law is de facto in force in the occupied areas, and not only members of religious minorities but also women are suffering.”