Following the collapse of the Assad regime in Syria, the Society for Threatened Peoples (STP) has renewed its appeal to the German Federal Government not to leave the people of Syria to their fate. “Now, the German Federal Government should actively work towards a transition process in which democratic and secular structures are strengthened. Until this is guaranteed, we warn against rash calls for the return of refugees,” emphasized Dr. Kamal Sido, the STP’s Middle East expert.

“The current situation in Syria is characterized by great uncertainty. Many people in Syria are rightly glad that Assad was overthrown – as they have suffered under the brutal dictatorship, lost loved ones, or are waiting for any sign of life from imprisoned relatives. However, the Islamists who are now trying to take power are waiting for revenge and will try to finally establish a new Islamist state in Syria. Thus, many Syrians are worried about the future: they know that Islamism has never produced anything good. At the same time, their everyday life is characterized by great uncertainty. Many don’t know how to make a living, how to get hold of a piece of bread for themselves or their children,” the Middle East expert commented on the situation in Syria.

“The future of the civilian population in Syria depends on whether the democratic, secular forces, minority groups such as Kurds, Armenians, Assyrians/Aramaeans/Chaldeans, Christians, Yazidis, Druze, Isma’ilis, Shiites, as well as Syrian women who reject the compulsory hijab and Sunni Muslims who are against a Sunni-Islamist regime can rely on support from the international community – by neighboring states such as Israel, Jordan, and Iraq, but also the United States or Russia. Or will we witness the rise of Erdoğan and the Muslim Brotherhood – which is supported by Turkey and the Emirate of Qatar, and which is doing everything it can to destroy the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria and to drive hundreds of thousands of Kurds and the few remaining Christians and Yazidis out of the region,” Sido asked.

Meanwhile, the Turkish army and its mercenaries are trying to seize the opportunity by intensifying their attacks on the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in Manbij and on the region to the east of River Euphrates, where around 200,000 Kurds, but also members of other population groups have found refuge over the last few days. Also, the predominantly Kurdish districts of Ashrafia and Sheikh Maksoud in Aleppo are still besieged by Islamists.

“There is no reason to be happy yet. I will not be happy until the Turkish occupying power and its Islamist mercenaries have left the Kurdish region of Afrin and other Kurdish areas, so that all people of Syria can live without fear of oppression,” stated the human rights activists, who was born in Afrin in northern Syria. “I would like to be able to visit my parents’ graves in Afrin – which has been occupied by Turkey since 2018 – and then rest under an olive tree without having to fear that men with long beards will come and arrest, abduct, or even kill me.”