Syria condemns Turkish Parliament’s decision to extend Erdogan’s government’s mandate to send troops to Syria and Iraq

The Syrian Arab Republic has condemned in the strongest terms the decision issued recently by the Turkish parliament on extending the so-called mandate granted to the government of Recep Tayyib Erdogan to send troops to Syria and Iraq for two years, according to a source at the Syrian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates.  

Syria stresses that the regional and international situation can no longer tolerate silence over the practices of the Turkish regime, which threaten international peace and security, the source said in a statement to SANA on Saturday.

Erdogan’s policies have become a direct threat to peace and security in the region and the world, as he continues to launch military attacks on Syrian territories and violate the Security Council resolutions on Syria which all have called for respecting the sovereignty, independence, unity and territorial integrity of the Syrian Arab Republic, the source made it clear.

 The source went on to say that the leniency of the Security Council vis-a-vis the ongoing Turkish occupation of Syrian territories encourage President of the Turkish regime to  commit more crimes  against Syria.

Turkey continues to occupy Syrian territories, impose fait accompli policies, carry out demographic change and tukification schemes, withhold the Euphrates’ water flow towards Syria, support terrorist organizations in Idlib and its vicinity, exploit the Syrian refugees’ file to blackmail the international community, send foreign terrorists and mercenaries to Syria and impede political solution to the crisis in the country, clarified the source.

Syria affirms that the Turkish regime’s behavior can no longer be tolerated and that the Security Council should exercise its mandate in condemning the aggressive practices of the Turkish regime against Syria and in calling on this regime to immediately and unconditionally  withdraw its forces from the territories of the Syrian Arab Republic, to respect Syria’s independence and not to interfere in its internal affairs, to stop violating the UN Charter and the international law and to abide by Astana understanding and the agreements that govern the relations between the two countries, the source also said.

  The source concluded by saying that Syria preserves its full right, based on the UN Charter and the international law, to defend its independence, territorial integrity and complete sovereignty and to take all the legal and practical measures, guaranteed by international legitimacy, to confront the Turkish aggression and liberate the entire Syrian territory.

The source added that Syria calls on the international community to hold the Turkish regime accountable for the war crimes it has committed in the country and to compensate the Syrian State for all the losses resulted from the practices of this regime towards the Syrian civilians, infrastructure, public and private properties, natural resources and cultural heritage.  

Hamda Mustafa