Beyond supporting terrorism, Erdogan’s regime is trying to change the demography of northern Syria

Turkish occupation forces and their terrorist organizations continue their aggression against areas in the north of Syria by bombing safe areas, continuing Turkification, demographic change, theft of the region’s resources and historical antiquities, such as the Judaist and settlement policies of the Israeli occupation entity in the occupied Syrian Arab Golan and Palestine.

The practices of the Turkish regime, over the past years, have been a striking example of disregard for the lowest moral values, international law, and the Charter of the United Nations. The theft of the country’s resources in the north of Syria, the destruction of its antiquities and the robbery of artifacts that depict the Syrian deep-rooted civilization in the region reflect these persistent criminal practices against Syrians and human values.

Regarding the practices of the Turkish regime as part of its plans to impose a new reality in the areas it occupies with its terrorist groups since 2018, Mohammed Hanoush, Chairman of the Aleppo Governorate Council, said in a statement to SANA, “The Turkish regime’s Turkification policy in the northern countryside is not new. It is a continuation of its Ottoman legacy, where, for years, they looted the wealth of the Arab homeland, assaulted its properties, and forced the transfer of makers, artisans, and professionals to contribute to the building of its so-called civilization. “

According to Hanoush, “Erdogan’s ambitions are now renewed through new Turkification attempts, including education sectors in schools, universities, health centers, agriculture, demographic change of population and infrastructure, striving to replace Syrian Arab identity with Turkish ones, and replacing the savage armed terrorist groups with the native peoples who clung to their lands and rejected Turkish identity and all Neo-colonial attempts.

In the context of its attempts to obliterate the history of the region, violating the international law and the Charter of the United Nations, the Turkish regime last year established in the town of Al-Ra ‘i in the countryside of Aleppo governorate a college and an institute that belongs to the Turkish University of Health Sciences in Istanbul.

Dr. Sakhr Oulabi, Director of Antiquities and Museums of Aleppo noted that “the crimes of Turkish occupation have been evident in the systematic attacks and vandalism of more than 50 archaeological sites targeting their Syrian identity through its   illegal attempts to excavate and steal antiquities, vandalize archaeological areas to obliterate the memory of the deep-rooted Syrian civilization. It also uprooted olive trees in some other areas and completely bulldozed some hills in search of antiquities.”

At the site of Ain Dara, Turkey’s occupation was directly and through its terrorist mercenaries, broke down archaeological statues, where damage amounted to more than 40% according to local sources. This site has been converted into a military shooting field and they have distorted the archaeological burial in Nabi Hori area  by adding new blocks to the site turning it into a summer  camping. 

Oulabi called on international bodies and organizations concerned with the protection of human heritage to intervene to stop these violations  against the archaeological sites and the acts of sabotage that have persisted through the Turkish regime and its terrorist mercenaries, the enemies of civilization and humanity. 

Engineer Radwan Harsouni, Director of Agriculture in Aleppo, asserted that the violation of the areas occupied by the Turkish regime and its terrorist mercenaries in the north also affected the properties, lands, and crops of citizens. 

“The Turkish occupier stole agricultural crops in the areas of Azaz, Afrin, and northern Syria, including grain and olive oil, and cut down olive trees on the pretext of constructing roads. Most of these trees  were uprooted and transferred to Turkish territory. It also stole water and reduced its quantities to the dams, resulting in a reduction of water level for less than three meters,” Harsouni confirmed.

New facts unfold daily that demonstrate the Turkish-Erdogan regime’s intentions towards Syria that go beyond the fact that it supports the Takfiri terrorist organizations. It tries to get a green light from his masters in the White House to establish so-called “Safe zone,” which allows him to gather, train and arm terrorists to serve as a starting point for aggression against the Syrian State. He has turned his country’s borders with Syria into a corridor for introducing weapons and terrorist mercenaries over the past years from all over the world.

Amal Farhat