{"id":189726,"date":"2019-10-21T10:00:19","date_gmt":"2019-10-21T08:00:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/scm.bz?p=189726"},"modified":"2019-10-31T12:57:41","modified_gmt":"2019-10-31T10:57:41","slug":"joint-statement","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/scm.bz\/en\/joint-statement\/","title":{"rendered":"Regional Organizations Condemn Turkey\u2019s Ethnic Cleansing Plan for Northeast Syria"},"content":{"rendered":"

Regional Organizations Condemn Turkey\u2019s Ethnic Cleansing Plan for Northeast Syria<\/strong><\/p>\n

We, a group of human rights organizations from the Middle East and North Africa, express our grave concern regarding Turkey\u2019s military operation<\/a> in northeastern Syria and its plan to resettle Syrian refugees in the area, following US President Donald Trump\u2019s decision<\/a> to withdraw U.S. troops from the area. This act of aggression will lead to serious human rights violations and further destabilize the region. The military incursion has already resulted in 218<\/a> civilian deaths, and there are reports that key civilian infrastructure<\/a> has been targeted, including water pumping stations, dams, power stations, and oil fields. Accordingly, an additional 150,000 to 160,000<\/a> Syrians have been displaced by the violence so far. While we welcome the announcement of turkey’s temporary suspension of its military operation, reports from Syria suggest that fighting<\/a> continues on the border. To this end, we stress the need for an effective agreement that enforces any ceasefire on the ground and the full withdrawal of Turkey\u2019s forces from the area while also ensuring the protection of civilians and preventing any attempts at demographic change as a means to solve the security concerns of the parties to the conflict.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Over the last eight years, the Syrian people have suffered greatly at the hands of all parties to the conflict, most grievously from the violent repression and brutal assaults carried out by the Syrian government under President Bashar al-Assad. The Syrian civil war has created 5.6 million refugees<\/a> and internally displaced an additional 6.6 million people. Turkey\u2019s President Recip Tayyip Erdogan has announced his plan<\/a> to create a so-called \u201csafe zone\u201d in northeastern Syria and forcibly transfer up to 2 million Syrian refugees<\/a> into the area.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

This will only exacerbate the conflict and result in further casualties and displacement of the local population, which is made up of Kurds, Arabs, and Assyrians. This further militarization of the conflict has already lead to escalation with the Syrian army entering the northeast to confront the Turkish military, following an agreement<\/a> between the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) and the Syrian government. This is the latest step in the ongoing pressure by the Turkish government against its 3.6 million Syrian refugees, which has included shutting<\/a> down refugee camps and forcibly returning<\/a> Syrian refugees to a war zone<\/a>, in violation of its obligations under international refugee law.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

We are concerned that the Turkish government\u2019s plans to resettle Syrian refugees from different parts of the country in territory cleared by the military incursion will result in enforced demographic change and further conflict, endangering both returning refugees and the local population. This operation has troubling similarities to Turkey\u2019s Operation Olive Branch in northwest Syria in and around the city of Afrin, which resulted in serious human rights violations and demographic change. Approximately 137,000<\/a> Syrians were displaced from Afrin as part of Turkey\u2019s plans to reduce the Kurdish majority in the area. The Turkish government transferred<\/a> Syrian Arabs to Afrin and into the homes of Kurds who fled. The Turkish military and its allies also damaged and destroyed<\/a> the historical, cultural, and religious sites of the indigenous communities in the area.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Moreover, Afrin\u2019s residents suffer ongoing violations<\/a> at the hands of Turkish backed armed groups, including intimidation<\/a>, arbitrary detention, kidnapping, torture and other ill-treatment, enforced disappearances, confiscation of property and homes, and looting. According to the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, civilians<\/a> have been detained by these groups and accused of affiliation with specific Kurdish armed or political groups, and the whereabouts of many of these civilians remain unknown. Turkey, as the occupying power, bears the responsibility for these abuses and violations committed by its allies.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

In this context, we recommend the following:<\/p>\n