Kurdish party says Idlib’s civilians should not pay the price of war

The pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) on Friday warned that 2.5 million civilians in Idlib should not pay the price for the looming war in Idlib.

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – The pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) on Friday warned that 2.5 million civilians in Idlib should not pay the price for the looming war in Idlib.

The statement comes as Turkish president Tayyip Erdogan arrived in Tehran on Friday for a meeting with his Iranian and Russian counterparts to discuss the situation in Idlib, Tasnim news agency reported.

“We now see that social and political breakdown has deepened with the involvement of foreign gangs, fighting groups, and states in the Syrian war, which has continued since 2011 and caused great damage, especially to the civilian population,” the HDP co-chairs, Pervin Buldan and Sezai Temelli, said. 

Millions of civilians trapped in Idlib face the prospect of the greatest humanitarian catastrophe in Syria’s seven-year war, should there be a major military escalation in the country’s northwest, eight leading aid agencies warned on Friday.

“As HDP, we regard the security of civilians as a principal issue, and we expect all parties, especially the UN, to deal with this issue with the same sensitivity. We insist that international forces take necessary measures to initiate a process in Syria to protect civilians,” the HDP co-chairs argued.

“The Syrian civil war can only end with the participation of all local parties, and with no influence and pressure of foreign powers. In order to rebuild a democratic and pluralistic Syria, the international community, especially the UN, must fulfill its responsibilities on the basis of sustainable peace,” the HDP leaders continued. 

The HDP called on all parties to adopt an approach that prioritizes the safety of civilians. 

“It is necessary for an independent observational force to step in to conduct the evacuation of the civilians from the region, and all parties to the conflict should focus on diplomatic methods. All parties should cooperate in order to neutralize the groups in Idlib which are responsible for numerous war crimes and crimes against humanity,” the HDP leaders stated. 

Moreover, the pro-Kurdish party called on all neighbors of Syria, including Turkey, “to refrain from attempts that will cause ethnic and sectarian discrimination and thus interfere with Syria’s internal affairs.”

Kurdish officials in Syria have accused Turkey of ethnic cleansing by settling fighters and their families from other areas of Syria in Afrin after Turkey and its Islamist rebel allies took over the Kurdish canton in March.

This week, Jaysh al-Islam, a group from Eastern Ghouta, opened a large headquarters in Afrin, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) reported.

The group was evacuated from eastern Ghouta under a deal with the regime, Russia, and Turkey, and transported to northern Syria.

There are now fears among Afrin’s population that Idlib’s Islamist fighters will be displaced to Afrin

.“Most likely, Turkey will transfer the jihadists to Afrin. This would be the best way for Turkey to protect Afrin from the comeback of the Kurds,” Fabrice Balanche, an associate professor at the University of Lyon 2, told Kurdistan 24.

SOHR reported that on Wednesday hundreds of families from Idlib were moving towards the Turkish border, and Afrin and its countryside, fleeing the Syrian government’s upcoming assault.

The HDP called on all the parties in the conflict, and especially the Turkish government, to drop all attempts that will deepen the destruction by transferring foreign fighters to other areas of Syria and providing logistics support. 

“We demand that the UN should investigate war crimes caused by the AKP government such as enforced displacements, looting of cities and civilian massacres in the Syrian territories including Afrin, Jarabulus, Al-Bab, and Azaz,” the statement concluded.   

Editing by Nadia Riva