Turkey’s “war against humanity” in North and East Syria has been condemned in an international statement signed by a diverse group of academics, activists and organisations, who urged immediate international intervention to address the crisis.
The statement, signed by 35 collectives and 183 individuals, including sociologist and philosopher John Holloway, journalist and author Debbie Bookchin, and journalist and researcher Kamal Chomani, detailed that since 4 October, Turkish forces have been systematically bombarding various districts in North and East Syria. Their statement highlighted that “Turkish warplanes, armed drones, artillery and mortars have been targeting civilian settlements and vehicles, electric power stations, gas stations, water resources and energy supplies.” It added that these attacks have left about two million people without access to electricity, sufficient energy or water supplies and have no access to healthcare.
“We are facing a new dimension of Turkey’s invasive war that is aimed at occupying, ‘ethnically cleansing’, and destroying more areas of North Syria,” the signatories said. They accused the Turkish government of aiming to wipe out “all infrastructure, superstructure, and energy facilities” in order to depopulate the region.
The communique called on the international community to establish a No-Flight-Zone for the Turkish Air Force over Syrian and Iraqi airspace and demanded that Turkey ends its “politics of occupation and systematic killings”.
The statement includes links to several recent reports that corroborate the signatories claims and demands, such as the Rojava Information Centre‘s summary report on Turkey’s aerial assaults on North and East Syria, and reports by the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria and Kongra Star detailing Turkey’s drone war in the region.
