Turkey’s Aggression Against NE Syria Enables the Resurgence of ISIS: Press Release
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE - JANUARY 22, 2022
Turkey’s Aggression Against Northeast Syria Enables the Resurgence of ISIS.
It Must Stop.
In light of the attempted prison outbreak in Hasaka, Northeast Syria, on January 20, the Emergency Committee for Rojava urged the Biden Administration to pressure Turkey to cease its aggression against the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES), noting that the resurgence of ISIS in Syria is being aided by Turkey's support of jihadist groups and Turkey's pressure on the US-allied Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF).
Turkey and ISIS have both sought to annihilate democracy, diversity and women’s rights in Northeast Syria, and they have consistently coordinated their efforts to these ends. The latest outbreak attempt at an ISIS prison in Hasaka, organized with help of ISIS sleeper cells, illustrated this point: As the SDF has fought ISIS members with assistance of the US-led Global Coalition over the past three days, Turkey has attacked anti-ISIS forces elsewhere in the region (with US-equipped drones). For example, as SDF reinforcements rushed from Tal Tamer to help stem the prison outbreak on Friday, Turkey bombed the SDF convoy. Clearly such attacks are intended to undermine the SDF’s capacity to contain ISIS insurgents.
The time has come for the Biden Administration to hold Turkey accountable. As Co-chair of the AANES Foreign Relations Office Abdul Karim Omar said to Firat News: "The international powers are responsible for what is happening now in Hasaka." As long as the US arms and funds Turkey, it will be complicit in Turkey’s attacks as well as the ISIS resurgence they enable.
The international community has relegated the people of Northeast Syria to cannon fodder against ISIS, leaving them unrecognized and under-resourced, while directly enabling the constant war of aggression against Kurds carried out by NATO member Turkey. If the United States takes the fight against ISIS seriously, it must empower the AANES region to stabilize itself politically and economically. If the US and other world powers fail to give the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria the recognition and support it deserves, the Middle East’s foremost bastion of democracy and women’s rights will be overrun by the ISIS and other jihadist groups supported by Turkey, with far reaching consequences for the stability of the region and even the world.
The non-profit, U.S.-based Emergency Committee for Rojava was formed in March 2018 after the Turkish invasion of Afrin and is supported by prominent American academics and activists. For media inquiries, contact us at press@defendrojava.org
Download the press release as PDF here.
