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Stop Turkey’s war and occupation policies in North and East Syria
Stop war against humanity in North and East Syria
Stop Turkey’s war and occupation policies
The undersigned express our solidarity with the Kurdish movement made up of children, young people, women, diverse identities and the Kurdish people in struggle for their rights to autonomy and self-determination. And through our personal and collective voice we want to let the world know what is happening in Kurdish territory right now.
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Current Situation
Since the 4th of October 2023, Turkish army forces have systematically been bombarding villages, towns and general infrastructure in the districts of Derik, Rimelan, Tirbesipi, Qamishlo, Amude, Hasake, Til Temir, Dirbesi, Manbij, Ain Issa, Kobane, Tal Rifat, Shehba, Shera and Sherawa, covering a geographical area of approximately 900 kms by 52 kms of the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES).
Turkish warplanes, armed drones (UAVs), artillery and mortars have been targeting civilian settlements and vehicles, electric power stations, gas stations, water resources and energy supplies, oil fields, health centres and hospitals (including two hospitals specialising in Covid-19 patients), cement factories, crop fields, granaries and food companies, as well as the M4 highway and the surroundings of refugee camps in the regions of Hasake, Derik, Sheba and Sherawa that are inhabited by ten thousands of internally displaced persons. These attacks have been carried out from Turkish army bases inside Turkey, as well as from areas within North Syria that are under Turkish occupation since 2016, such as Jerablus, Afrin, Gire Sipi and Serekaniye.
During the first three days of the current attacks at least 16 people lost their lives, and dozens have been injured. About two million people have been left without electricity, sufficient energy or water supplies and have no access to healthcare. In a press statement the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria announced that the bombardments targeting the electricity infrastructure alone have so far caused material losses of 56 million US dollars.
We are facing a new dimension of Turkey’s invasive war that is aimed at occupying, “ethnically cleansing”, and destroying more areas of North Syria. The latest attacks have been announced by the Turkish government with the declared aim of wiping out “all infrastructure, superstructure, and energy facilities” in order to destroy all basis of life in North and East Syria and to depopulate the region. These attacks are targeting the lives and the security of more than six million people of different cultures and believes –such as Kurds, Arabs, Suryoye, Circassian, Turkmen, Ezidi, Christians, Muslim and others– living together on common land, and fulfilling their vital needs within the structures of Democratic Autonomy. Despite ongoing airstrikes, tens of thousands of residents of the cities and regions under attack are out on the streets condemning the attacks and declaring their determination to continue their common resistance against war and occupation –for a life of dignity, peace and freedom.
The latest Turkish attacks add to the systematic drone warfare, airstrikes and military operations carried out by Turkish army forces in the Kurdish regions on Syrian and Iraqi territory. Since 2020, the lives of community workers, journalists, politicians, members of the Autonomous Administration, the women’s movement and the self-defence forces have been deliberately targeted. Just between January 2022 and September 2023, due to about 190 Turkish drone strikes 163 people lost their lives and 218 were severely injured. Among them there are dozens of members of the YPG-YPJ and Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) who have fought against Islamic State (ISIS) to defend humanity. Therefore, it does not seem to be a coincidence that the Turkish army started its massive air strike operation exactly at a time when SDF carried out large-scale operations to prevent the resurgence of ISIS.
Although all these attacks by the Turkish army on Syrian territory involve clear violations of international humanitarian law and war crimes and thus are contributing to deepen the humanitarian crisis in Syria and the whole Middle East, neither the UN nor other international bodies, states or forces have yet adequately condemned these crimes or taken any effective steps to stop them.
Therefore we call the international community and all concerned bodies to take urgent action to prevent further crimes against humanity and to stop Turkey’s war and occupation policies.
We call urgently all the sensitive and committed people in the world to
- Counteract Turkey’s disinformation policies and media censorship by providing and spreading information from sources in the targeted region itself.
We demand international organisation and governments to
- Establish a No-Flight-Zone for the Turkish Air Force, including armed and unarmed UAVs (unmanned aerial vehicles) over Syrian and Iraqi airspace.
From all over the world we demand urgently that
- The Turkish Government stops its war attacks, politics of occupation, and systematic killings of women’s rights defenders and people living in any part of Kurdistan, especially in the territories of North and East Syria, and North Iraq.
- Turkey ends its occupation and genocidal practices on Syrian territories such as in the regions of Jerablus, Afrin, Gire Sipi and Serekaniye.
- In accordance with international law, war crimes and crimes against humanity should be prosecuted, including genocide and feminicide committed by president Erdoğan and his Justice and Development Party (AKP) government.
The great powers of the world do not view the autonomy of the Kurdish people in a favourable light, because it threatens their interests and ways of exercising power. The great world powers do not want to see the example of millions of Kurdish people being propagated. They do not want the world to know about the Kurdish people who meet in more than four thousand local assemblies to decide themselves over the course of their lives. In these assemblies, women exercise full political, economic and social rights. The same Kurdish people are out to defend themselves with weapons in their hands. They exercise justice through popular committees, and their means of production are collectively owned. None of them renounces their faith, their language, their beliefs or customs. They live together with others, accept their differences and organise themselves accordingly. In other words, the world powers (governments, nation-states, corporations, the powers that be) cannot respect, and even less let live and flourish a Kurdish society that is struggling for a world in which many worlds fit.
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(Cover photo:
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For further information see:
Rojava-NES | Statement to Civil Society and Global Public Opinion
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YtCcCiXPTmA
Summary Report: Turkey’s Aerial Assaults on North and East Syria: 5-6 October 2023 by Rojava Information Centre
https://drive.google.com/file/d/139wYAKziKPPWhCiv1WoorXXKW-hJ7j7T/view
Turkish Warplanes and Drones Target Northeast Syria, 6 October 2023 by AANES
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Frew4-zt8N2dRHR2eXMEI9_V8Koj_E4u/view
Turkey’s Drone War in North and East Syria, 20 June 2023 by Kongra Star
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1sv_laS41rdJfFsTxO5QA_KuQ8S1EjZfG/view
Published by RIC also:
Women Defend Rojava:
English: https://womendefendrojava.net/en/
Spanish: https://womendefendrojava.net/es/
Published today by Kongra Star:
Pronunciamiento de Servicio Civil para La Paz, Encuentro 2023
PRONUNCIAMIENTO
- Exigimos al Estado Mexicano garantizar el acceso a la justicia, verdad y reparación integral con la participación efectiva de las víctimas y tomar como acción de primer orden la atención a la grave situación de violencia feminicida.
- Urgimos al Gobierno de Oaxaca la liberación de manera inmediata del defensor del bosque Pablo López Alavez.
- La denominada política pública de paz desarrollada por el gobierno estatal ha sido excluyente, para que sea real en Oaxaca es necesaria la participación de la sociedad civil.
Con el objetivo de reflexionar sobre los desafíos del contexto y generar acciones conjuntas, 10 organizaciones de seis estados de México celebramos en la capital oaxaqueña, del 4 al 6 de octubre, el encuentro “Construyendo en colectivo caminos hacia la paz con justicia”, en el marco del Programa Servicio Civil para la Paz. El espacio permitió el intercambio de experiencias y estrategias para seguir pugnando por el respeto a los derechos humanos de todas las personas, por la atención y prevención de la violencia, así como por la justicia y condiciones para la construcción de paz.
A partir del análisis compartido, las organizaciones manifestamos las siguientes preocupaciones:
- La política de seguridad que avala los procesos de militarización por parte del Estado mexicano y su fallida lucha contra la impunidad, como se ha evidenciado en el caso de la desaparición forzada de 43 estudiantes de Ayotzinapa. Recordamos que la paz no se construye solo con voluntad; requiere de justicia efectiva, reparación del daño y un ejercicio constante de recuperación y construcción de memoria histórica.
- La falta de mecanismos del Estado para atender la crisis migratoria, que está generando deshumanización, así como graves violaciones a derechos humanos tales como la violencia sexual y trata de mujeres, juventudes y niñeces.
- Las múltiples violencias que se ejercen contra quienes defienden derechos humanos. Ejemplo de ello son los 47 asesinatos de activistas perpetrados en Oaxaca entre 2018 y 2022, cifra que coloca al estado como el más peligroso para la defensa de los derechos humanos en el país.
- La situación de conflictividad que se vive en México, particularmente en Oaxaca, donde el crimen organizado y grupos armados vinculados al cacicazgo político, agrario y económico atentan contra la población civil con la aquiescencia de autoridades de los tres niveles de gobierno.
- La disputa por el control territorial entre grupos del crimen organizado en colusión con sectores del Estado y otros poderes fácticos exacerba la violencia, abona a conflictos comunitarios y es una de las causas del desplazamiento forzado interno.
Dado el momento histórico que vive el país, refrendamos nuestra solidaridad y respaldo a víctimas de violencia feminicida, desaparición forzada, desplazamiento forzado interno; con las familias de víctimas de violencia feminicida y de personas defensoras asesinadas, así como con todas las víctimas de violaciones a derechos humanos. Es urgente que la definición de las acciones del Estado sea desde una mirada y acción interseccional, multicultural y no desde una lógica sexista, racial y de discriminación.
Exigimos al Estado Mexicano a actuar de manera contundente en contra de la corrupción, la impunidad, asumir con seriedad acciones en contra del funcionariado de los diferentes niveles de gobierno por encubrir intereses criminales de despojo institucional, político y económico.
Exigimos al Estado Mexicano a que garantice el acceso a la justicia, verdad y reparación integral con la participación efectiva de las víctimas y tomar como acción de primer orden la atención a la situación de violencia feminicida.
La denominada política pública de paz desarrollada por el gobierno estatal ha sido excluyente, para que sea real en Oaxaca es necesaria la participación de la sociedad civil.
Frente a las violaciones a los derechos humanos, llamamos a la sociedad civil y organizada a favorecer el diálogo democrático, a asumir acciones humanitarias, a seguir generando Paz y Justicia desde la colectividad, para el fortalecimiento de las formas de articulación social de los pueblos, las comunidades y la ciudadanía en general.
Urgimos al Gobierno del Estado y al Poder Judicial de Oaxaca a que libere de manera inmediata al defensor del bosque Pablo López Alavez en cumplimiento a la opinión 23/2017 del Grupo de Trabajo sobre Detenciones Arbitrarias de la ONU.
Oaxaca de Juárez, Oaxaca, México, a 06 de octubre de 2023.
Comité de Defensa Integral de Derechos Humanos, Gobixha (CODIGO DH) – Oaxaca
Consorcio para el Diálogo Parlamentario y la Equidad Oaxaca – Oaxaca
Servicios para una Educación Alternativa (EDUCA) – Oaxaca
Centro de Derechos Humanos Fray Bartolomé de Las Casas – Chiapas
Comisión de Apoyo a la Unidad y Reconciliación Comunitaria (CORECO) – Chiapas
Centro de Derechos Humanos de las Mujeres (CEDEHM)– Chihuahua
Centro de Justicia para la Paz y el Desarrollo (CEPAD) – Jalisco
Centro para los Derechos Humanos Fray Juan de Larios – Coahuila
Aluna Acompañamiento Psicosocial – CDMX
Servicios y Asesoría para la Paz (SERAPAZ) – CDMX