SDC welcomes proposal to send Dutch troops to Syria to stop Turkish threats
ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – The Kurdish-backed Syrian Democratic Council (SDC) welcomed a proposal by the Dutch government coalition Christian Union party to send Dutch troops to Syria to stop a potential Turkish attack east of the Euphrates after US president Donald Trump said he would withdraw US troops.
“I think any European forces, including Dutch forces, that want to operate as peace forces in the northeast of Syria are most welcome,” said Bassam Ishak, a member of the multi-ethnic SDC, which is co-chaired by a Kurd and an Arab.
The Dutch Christian Union Party on Friday proposed to send Dutch soldiers to Syria to join a “coalition of the willing,” where they will help French and British troops in the war-torn country. However, so far, most opposition parties and government parties are skeptical of such a plan.
The Christian Union party is one of four parties that formed the Dutch government in October 2017.
The head of the Christian Union parliament bloc in the Dutch parliament, Gert Jan-Segers, tweeted on Friday that “the Kurds have expelled IS and offer space to minorities such as Christians. Now that Trump is abandoning the Kurds and surrendering them to Erdogan, Europe should offer these allies protection.”
A spokesperson of the US-led coalition told Kurdistan 24 on Sunday that the US army is focused on “a deliberate and controlled withdrawal of forces, taking all measures possible to ensure our troops’ safety while they finish off the remnants of ISIS.”
“At this stage, given threats by Turkey and its proxies of Syrian extremist jihadists, we, as the SDC, welcome such a move and we hope that it will not just be Dutch forces but also other forces from Europe,” Ishak, the Syriac Christian SDC member said.
He further added that it would be in the best interest of European countries “to support this experiment and not allow extremist jihadists and Turkey to illegally invade a region that has fought in alliance with the international coalition, which has many European members.”
According to Ishak, the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), which has fought against IS with US support for years, should not be “forsaken just before an actual military victory is accomplished against ISIS.”
He also argued that “Turkey is a member of NATO, and EU countries should be able to pressure it not to make such a move.”
“It is not in the interest of Europe, [both] short and long term.”
The SDC official warned it could lead to mass-immigration from the northeast of Syria, and would not “accomplish the goal of defeating extremism, ideologically and militarily.”
Earlier officials of the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) in neighboring Iraq warned that a new Syrian crisis could result in a new wave of refugees. The Kurdistan Region already hosts over 200,000 Syrian refugees.
“I support this proposal by MPs from the Christian Union bloc and Dutch parliament. We think it’s a very wise and should be taken seriously,” he concluded.
The Dutch Parliament is expected to hold a debate in the new year on the Christian Union’s plan and Trump’s decision to withdraw troops from Syria.
Editing by Nadia Riva