Syria’s Budding Democracy is Being Destroyed
Syria’s Budding Democracy is Being Destroyed. But It’s Not Too Late To Save It! Stop The Turkish Occupation of N.E. Syria!
On the 13th of November Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan plans to visit the U.S.A. We call on the U.S.A. to stand for the Democratic Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (DAA), our democracy, - if Americans are who they say they are. We call for the U.S.A. to stand with the DAA and for religious freedom – if Americans care about holding violators to account1.
Turkey has continuously violated the 17th of October ceasefire agreement and is also attacking and bombing our people by air in areas outside of the agreed upon so called ‘safe-zone.’ For example, on a daily basis since 4 November 2019 till today they are conducting a ‘war against the unbelievers2 by trying to destroy our ancient Syriac-Assyrian villages near Tel Tamer and in the Khabour Valley in North East Syria. These villages are outside of the so- called ‘safe zone’ and are defended by Syriac Christian forces only (MFS: Syriac Military Council). Yet on the 12th of November, in the city of Rihaniya, our Christian communities were attacked by Turkish armed forces and one of our Syriac Christian fighters was killed and three were captured. While on the 11th of November, an Armenian Catholic priest Father Hanna Bido was gunned down assassination style by Turkish armed militants. Three bombings were also detonated in al-Qamishli, including one outside of the Chaldean Catholic Church, resulting in fortyseven civilians killed and many injured.
We ask the U.S.A. why are they allowing religious and ethnic minorities that are peaceful citizens, to be bombed by Turkey when the U.S.A. controls the airspace? We call for the U.S.A to declare a ‘no fly-zone’ over the DAA.
On the 6th of November Erdogan declared that: ‘our struggle to turn Islam into a guide that embraces our country and then the world, starting from ourselves, is an eternal obligation for all of us to declare.’ Erdogan plans to turn are free, democratic region back into turmoil under radical Islamic occupation. We know this because on the same day, the 6th of November, a senior State department official confirmed and alerted the U.S. government that Turkey is using fighters whose ideology is that of ISIS3. These radical Islamist fighters are attacking our peaceful model of coexistence and democratic governance in N.E. Syria that is shared by Kurds, Arab tribes, Syriac Christians and other minorities. Our governance has seen the rise of democratic institutions built from the grassroots up to the highest levels in the middle of other regimes surrounding us known for their autocratic, totalitarian and brutal governance.
We, who have fought alongside the U.S.A. to keep out radical groups like ISIS, are now confused as to why the U.S.A. is allowing Turkey, and their radical ground forces affiliated with ISIS ideologies, to enter and destroy our territory? We have fought alongside your American forces to keep the terrorists out and now you have let them back in by supporting Turkey.
We call on the U.S.A. to stand on the right side of history and hold Erdogan, a religious freedom violator, accountable. Stand with us for our shared values of freedom and democracy, and stop radical extremists committing human rights abuses and occupying our democracy, our homeland, and our peaceful region of coexistence in the Democratic Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria.
1 Mike Pompeo at the 2018 International Religious Freedom Annual Report at the Departement of State in Washington, June 21, 2019: US to Religious Freedom Violators: You will be held to account”, https://www.voanews.com/usa/us-politics/us-religious-freedom-violators-you-will-be-held-account
2 Pro AKP Islamist newspaper Yeni Akit announced Turkish invasion of northeast Syria as: “Go and tell to the unbelievers that army of Mohammed is back!” This is Turkish sanctioned propaganda showing Turkey’s intent. Erdogan himself repeated the same terminology.
3 https://www.state.gov/senior-state-department-official-on-syria-and-turkey (‘’The problem is that the people doing the fighting are these ill-disciplined Arab militias, (…) relatively radical, and their ideology is essentially Islamic ideology.”)