Journalists and activists in Aleppo Governorate said that any agreement between Syrian Democratic Council (SDC) and the Syrian government will unify and enhance the rejection of Turkey’s occupation and settlement projects.
Abdurrazak Hussein, a pseudonym for a journalist in Aleppo, said that “there is a strong need to accelerate reaching a political understanding between the two parties [SDC and the government] to be a gate for a comprehensive agreement that will form a barrier against any Turkish invasion.”
Hussein added that “Turkey exploited the Syrian internal conflicts, weakness and division to annex important parts of Syrian territory under the pretext of fighting terrorism.”
Read Also: Syrian National Figures Stress Importance of Dialogue Between All Syrian Parties
Many Syrian figures encourage an intra-Syrian rapprochement, like Ahmad Tayfour, a lawyer and an activist, who stressed that the rapprochement between the SDC and the government will have positive effects on all parties.
The SDC is the political wing of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) and the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES). It was founded in 2015 and includes all the communities of north and east Syria.
The AANES was first formed in 2014 in the Kurdish-majority regions of Afrin, Kobani and Jazira in northern Syria following the withdrawal of the government forces. Later, it was expanded to Manbij, Tabqa, Raqqa, Hasakah and Deir ez-Zor after the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) defeated ISIS militarily.
Tayfour said that the recent statements by Ilham Ahmed, the president of the Executive Committee of the SDC, regarding the possibility of integrating the SDF with Syrian government forces, are positive and create a negotiating environment that may lead to an agreement between the two parties.
“If this happens, it will pave the way to a political solution, as well as it will form an obstacle in front of the ambitions of the Turkish state, which is still living in the past’s illusions and seeks to implement Misak-ı Millî, including the areas in the Syrian north,” he added.
Misak-ı Millî or the Turkish National Oath is a set of six decisions made by the last term of the Ottoman Parliament on 12 February 1920 and was later used as the basis for the claims of the Turkish state to add more territories to Turkey by occupying lands of the neighbouring countries.
“Turkey is a colonial country that wants to erase Syrian identity. Any intra-Syrian rapprochement will contribute to improving the economic and military situation in Syria which is suffering due to war and western sanctions,” Tayfour noted.
Maher Nahhas, a pseudonym for a freelance journalist in Aleppo, believes that the ongoing conflict between the SDC and the Syrian government is solvable since the main goal for both parties will be the preservation of the territorial integrity of Syria.
“The rapprochement between the aforementioned parties has become inescapable in order to reconstruct the state which has become a target of the Turkish projects,” Nahhas added.
This article was edited by The Syrian Observer. The Syrian Observer has not verified the content of this story. Responsibility for the information and views set out in this article lies entirely with the author.
