Report on Turkish aggression in northern Syria

The Kurdish news agency North Press Agency, which is based in northern Syria, has documented Turkish attacks on civilian infrastructure in northern Syria. A translation of their report can be found in the attachment to this press release. The Society for Threatened Peoples (STP) condemns the listed war crimes of NATO member Turkey – which are mainly aimed at the Kurds and other minority groups in northern Syria and Iraq: “Erdogan does not have to expect any contradiction from NATO, so he is able to escalate his attacks and his rhetoric,” stated Dr. Kamal Sido, the STP’s Middle East Correspondent, in Göttingen today. “Due to the ongoing aggression against ethnic and religious minorities in northern Syria, the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria appealed to the United Nations and the international community to send an international observation mission to the region – with the aim of inspecting and documenting the extent of the suffering and the destruction of infrastructure such as water and electricity supplies, hospitals, or bakeries.”

According to the “Monitoring and Documentation Department” of the North Press Agency, 49 civilians were killed and 112 were wounded (including 20 children and 16 women) in the Turkish attacks between November 2022 and September 30, 2023. Encouraged by the support of its NATO allies, Turkey attacked a total of 146 targets between October 5 and 8 of this year – from Derik in the north-east via Kobanî to the suburbs of Afrin in northwestern Syria. Among the targets were 24 infrastructure facilities, 87 residential areas, six agricultural areas, three industrial plants, a school and a hospital, as well as bases of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF). The SDF are the leading force of the anti-IS coalition, which is fighting a bloody ground war against the so-called IS.

“Now that the world public is distracted by the wars in Ukraine and in Israel, there is an acute danger that Turkey will use the distraction for further unlawful attacks against the Kurdish people in Syria and Iraq. Politicians from Germany and other NATO states must be aware that the Kurdish question might flare up again at any time, leading to a further destabilization of the Middle East,” Sido emphasized. “Turkey must urgently be prevented from further attacks against northern Syria and Iraq. Erdogan’s war against the Kurds will send even more people on the run, and it will make radical Islamist groups and militias in the Middle East stronger. They are an increasing threat to the region, but also to Europe.” 

A German translation of the documentation on the recent Turkish attacks in the north and north-east of Syria (“Jüngste türkische Aggressionen im Norden und Nordosten Syriens”) can be downloaded here.