Top Syrian Kurdish Commander welcomes EU resolution on Syria

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) Commander-in-Chief Mazloum Abdi on Saturday welcomed the European Union parliament resolution calling for the withdrawal of Turkish forces from Syria.

“We welcome the EU parliament's resolution calling for the withdrawal of the illegal Turkish occupation forces from northern Syria,” he said in a tweet.

He also underlined that the SDF “share the EU parliament's concerns over ethnic cleansing attempts by Turkey against Kurds in Syria.”

The European Parliament on Thursday called on Turkey to withdraw its troops from northern Syria and expressed concerns that its operations could amount to ethnic cleansing against Syrian Kurds.

In 2018, a UN report similarly outlined that the settling of ethnic Arabs in Kurdish-owned houses in Afrin may “be an attempt to change the ethnic composition of the area permanently.”

Read More: After a decade of conflict in Syria, EU parliament calls on Turkey to withdraw

Ankara has earlier claimed that its three military cross-border operations in Syria—Euphrates Shield (August 2016 - March 2017), Operation Olive Branch (January 2018 - March 2018), and Operation Peace Spring (October 2019)—were in line with its right of self-defense, as outlined in Article 51 of the Charter of the United Nations, “to combat international terrorism.”

The EU parliament, however, called on Turkey to “withdraw its troops from Northern Syria which it is illegally occupying outside of any UN mandate.”

It also condemned “Turkey’s illegal transfers of Kurdish Syrians from occupied Northern Syria to Turkey for detention and prosecution in violation of Turkey’s international obligations under the Geneva Conventions.”

The Turkish Foreign Ministry said in a Friday statement that it categorically rejected the “unfounded allegations” by the European parliament against its government.

“This resolution also reveals [a] biased and dishonest approach of the European Parliament against Turkey,” claiming that it conducted its operations “on the basis of self-defense” and that all measures were taken to “prevent any harm to the civilians during and after the operations.” 

Several UN reports and human rights organizations have documented hundreds of significant abuses against civilians in areas under the control of Turkey or militias it supports.

“We call upon the European Parliament to recognize the importance of the contributions in Syria by Turkey, which protects the borders of NATO and Europe and to constructively contribute to the political settlement of the conflict instead of making statements that are irrelevant and far from reality,” Turkey’s Foreign Ministry concluded.

Editing by Khrush Najari