According to Dr. Kamal Sido, Middle East Consultant of the Society for Threatened Peoples (STP), occupying power Turkey is creating facts in northern Syria. “Turkey is trying to get rid of the Kurdish people by encouraging Sunni Muslims to settle there,” he stated. As reported by the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), Turkey resettled 120 families to the predominantly Kurdish-inhabited areas around Ras Al-Ain and Tall Abyad during the last few months. In October, these territories had been occupied by Turkey in violation of international law. 

These people are members of the so-called “Islamic State” (IS) who – with help from the Turkish authorities – were able to flee from the camps Al Hol and Ain Issa. They are originally from Iraq, Syria, and other countries. The camps in northern Syria in which IS fighters and their relatives are being held are under the control of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF). “Without Turkish help, it is not possible to flee from the closely guarded camps and travel through Turkey to Ras Al-Ain or Afrin. The Turkish authorities also provide the families with jobs and accommodation. The idea is to change the demographic composition completely,” Sido stated. 

Some of the IS members are from central Asia or the North Caucasus. “Not all of them are planning to stay in Syria. There is a risk that IS fighters will come to Germany and other Western European countries illegally. There, they might join IS and carry out attacks in Europe,” Sido said. “Due to Turkey’s attacks on the SDF, there is an increased risk that even more IS members will flee from the camps.”

“As the German Federal Government and other EU governments are focusing on Russia and China, there is the danger that the threat posed by the Sunni-Islamist groups is not taken seriously enough. Turkey, on the other hand, tolerates these groups in order to use them against the Kurds in Syria, in Iraq, and also within Turkey,” Rami Abdulrahman, Director of SOHR, told the STP.