Turkey offensive: UN Security Council to hold emergency session Thursday

Lawk Ghafuri
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) will hold an emergency session on Thursday in response to the Turkish attack on Kurdish forces  in northeast Syria.

France, the United Kingdom, Germany, Poland, and Belgium called on the UN to schedule the emergency session, which will take place at 14:00 GMT, according to Rudaw’s correspondent in New York, Majeed Gly. 

Jerry Matthews Matjila, the South African president of the UN Security Council, confirmed the five European states had asked him to schedule the meeting. He was not able to offer further information, but said a statement would be released soon. 

Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced via Twitter the launch of his long-threatened military offensive against Kurdish forces in northeast Syria, nicknamed Operation Peace Spring, targeting the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG). 

Related: Turkey begins ground offensive against Syria Kurds following US withdrawal

In an official letter delivered to Matjila on Wednesday, seen by Rudaw, Turkey's permanent representative to the UN Feridun H. Sinirlioglu said Turkey is “unequivocally and strongly committed to the territorial and political unity of Syria”.

“As has been the case in its previous counter-terrorism operations, Turkey’s response will be proportionate, measured and responsible,” Sinirlioglu wrote. 

“The operation will target only terrorists and their hideouts, shelters, emplacements, weapons, vehicles and equipment. All precautions are taken to avoid collateral damage to the civilian population.”

Sinirlioglu called on Matjila to share the Turkish position with Security Council members. 

Farhan Haq, deputy spokesman for the UN secretary general, told a press conference in New York on Wednesday that “Turkey should fix their issues via peaceful dialogues and not through operations”.

“The UN will do an assessment regarding the current operation in Syria and we will have an official statement later,” Haq added.

World leaders have lined up to condemn Turkey’s operation. 

Iraqi President Barham Salih called the Turkish offensive “a grave escalation” that will “cause untold humanitarian suffering [and] empower terrorist groups”. 

Heiko Maas, the German foreign minister, tweeted on Wednesday: “We strongly condemn Turkish offensive in northeast Syria. Turkey risks further destabilization of the region and ISIS resurgence. We call on Turkey to end the offensive and pursue its security interests peacefully.” 

David Sassoli, president of the European Parliament, also urged Turkey to halt its offensive. 

“I strongly urge Turkey to stop all military action in northern Syria immediately. This intervention will never be a solution to the problem,” Sassoli said in a video tweeted on Wednesday.  

Sassoli also said the “population in northeast Syria has already suffered badly, and we must not allow anything that causes further suffering”.

Jean-Claude Juncker, the European Commission President, said told EU  lawmakers on Wednesday “I call on Turkey as well as on the other actors to act with restraint  and to stop operations already, as we are speaking, underway,” according to AP.

“If the Turkish plan involves the creation of a so-called safe zone, don’t expect the European Union to pay for any of it.”

Egypt’s foreign ministry has called for an emergency session of the Arab League, accusing Turkey of attacking the territory of a sovereign Arab country. 

“We strongly condemn the Turkish operation on Syrian territory,” the foreign ministry said in a statement. “The Turkish operation is a violation of the sovereignty of an Arab state, and Egypt calls on the Arab League council to hold an emergency meeting about the recent operation of Turkey in Syria.”

Jens Stoltenberg, Secretary General of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), tweeted on Wednesday that Turkey must “act with restraint”.

“NATO has been informed by Turkish authorities about their ongoing operation in northern Syria,” Stoltenberg said. “I count on Turkey to act with restraint & ensure that the gains we have made in the fight against ISIS are not jeopardized.”

Stoltenberg also revealed that he will meet with Erdogan on Friday.

In US, Republican Senator Lindsey Graham not only condemned the Turkish operation but also vowed “Erdogan will pay a heavy price”. 

Graham has been one of the most vocal critics of Trump’s decision to withdraw troops from northeast Syria. “This move ensures the reemergence of ISIS,” he warned. 

“I urge President Trump to change course while there is still time by going back to the safe zone concept that was working,” Graham added.

Graham said he and Democrat Chris Van Hollen will introduce legislation designed to impose far-reaching sanctions on NATO ally Turkey.

The sanctions would freeze all US assets of Turkey's political leadership and impose sanctions on entities that do business with Turkey's military or with oil and gas companies that service its armed forces, AFP reports. 


“While the Administration refuses to act against Turkey, I expect strong bipartisan support,” Graham said on Twitter.

US President Donald Trump greenlighted the Turkish offensive on Sunday night when he announced the withdrawal of US troops stationed in the border area between Syria and Turkey.

The autonomous Kurdish administration saw the US presence as a guarantee against Turkish attack. The SDF’s top commander Mazloum Kobani Abdi called the move a “stab in the back”.

The Turkish offensive already raises the prospect of further mass displacement in a region already battered by Syria’s eight-year civil war and the battle to defeat ISIS.

The International Rescue Committee (IRC) said the offensive could “immediately displace at least 300,000 people and disrupt lifesaving humanitarian services”.

“The IRC is deeply concerned about the lives and livelihoods of the 2 million civilians in northeastern Syria, who have already survived ISIS brutality and multiple displacements.”

It urged the international community to “consider the humanitarian consequences” to help “avoid any further unnecessary suffering of a beleaguered civilian population”.

The Kurdistan Region of Iraq (KRI), which shares a strategic border with the Kurdish-majority region of northern Syria known as Rojava,  already hosts roughly 225,000 Syrian Kurds fleeing the civil war,  poverty, conscription, and Turkish threats.

The offensive raises serious fears about the fate of Al-Hol, an SDF-controlled camp containing the families of ISIS militants, including hundreds of foreigners. Several makeshift prisons also hold ISIS captives, which the SDF warn could be turned loose amid the chaos.