Syrian Democratic Council to US Congress: 'honor your comittment'

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – The president of the executive committee of  the Syrian Democratic Council (SDC), Ilham Ahmed, has called on the US  congress and US President Donald Trump to “honor their commitment” and  pass sanctions against the Turkish government.

In several tweets early on Sunday, Ahmed sent a message to the US  congress and President Trump to stick to their initial commitment by  passing and enforcing sanctions on the Turkish government and its  defense industry , who have violated the ceasefire in Northeast  Syria. 

“In the absence of a true ceasefire, we also call upon the US congress  and President Trump to honor their commitment to pass and enforce  sanctions against the Turkish government and defense industry until  the withdrawal of Turkish and Turkish-backed forces from Northeast  Syria,” Ahmed tweeted.

President Trump had previously sanctioned several Turkish ministers and government ministries following the Turkish invasion of Northern Syria, but lifted the sanctions soon after. 

In another tweet, Ahmed warned the “effective and loyal” ally, the US-led coalition in the fight against the Islamic State (ISIS), that the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) are being “hunted like the very terrorists against whom they fought to protect the world,  sacrificing 11,000 brave men and women over the course of five years.”  

Ahmed also sent a request from “one free and democratic governing body  to another”, as she called on the friends of SDF in the US congress to  investigate Turkey’s use of US-made weapons and surveillance  technology in Rojava and to stop providing armaments to Turkey during  the investigation.  

The SDC, the political wing of the SDF which administers the Kurdish enclave of northern Syria also announced in a statement on Saturday that they are ready to start “negotiations”  with Damascus regarding northeast Syria.The SDC confirmed that they are ready to start negotiation with the  Syrian government to prevent the division of Syrian territories by  ‘Turkish fascist mercenaries”.

“We followed President Bashar al-Assad’s interview last night.  Although we disagree with many of the issues he raised…we have seen  from his speech that he is ready to engage in a real negotiation process,” the statement read.

Turkish proxies attacked the Hasakah province town of Tel Tamr on  Wednesday, taking control of a number of surrounding villages and  displacing residents and breaking the ceasefire in Northeast Syria. In  response, Damascus sent reinforcements to the town on Thursday and  retook the villages.

Hours before the militants’ attack on Tel Tamr, Turkish President  Recep Tayyip Erdogan threatened to extend the borders of the safe zone  he plans to establish in northern Syria, where several million Syrian  refugees who fled to Turkey are to be resettled.

“We will give a drastic response to any attack coming from outside of  the safe zone [in northern Syria] and we will expand our safe zone  area if needed,” Erdogan told a parliamentary meeting of his ruling  Justice and Development Party (AKP) on Wednesday.

Turkey launched its land incursion into northern Syria, Operation  Peace Spring on October 9. At least 300,000 people have been displaced  from their homes and scores of civilians killed in the operation.

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