Letter to UN Secretary-General over Turkish threats to Syrian Kurds

Dr. Amir Sharifi | iKurd.net

January 17, 2018

Dear Mr. Guterres

I am outraged by the Turkish government’s war propaganda and impending attack against Kurds in Syria, particularly, Afrin, and a city of about one million residents.

I am certain that you are aware of the grave situation; however, I am alarmed and shocked that the United Nations has yet to counter such aggressive assertions and actions perpetrated by Turkey in defiance of all international laws and obligations.

According to Democratic Union Party or PYD and the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, the Turkish forces have escalated artillery and rocket shelling on the surrounding areas of Afrin in the northwestern part of Syria, causing several deaths, considerable damage and destruction.

I denounce the Turkish attacks and vehemently condemn the impending attack on Afrin as a blatant case of state terrorism by a government that would go to any length including clandestine and open complicity with ISIS and Al Qaeda related groups, to eradicate Kurdish civic and political entity and cultural identity within and outside its borders.

The Turkish onslaught on Afrin is not just an attack on Kurds but the Syrian diverse populations living in the region; it would lead to more terror, deaths, destruction, and hatred. Lack of prompt action by the international community will only hasten and embolden the Turkish government in its aggressive assertions and aggressions and in perpetuating the Syrian people’s sufferings.

Dear Mr. Gutteres, on the International Day of Peace, you rightfully said,“ Our mission is to work for peace everyday and everywhere…” In the same very spirit and in defense of peace and human rights in Syria, I call upon the moral authority of your office and guiding principles set out in the Charter of United Nations to stop the Turkish impending invasion of Afrin and urge the international community to commit itself to promoting global peace and reconstructing the war ravaged Syria.

Cordially

Dr. Amir Sharifi.

Dr Amir Sharifi, is the president of the Kurdish American Education Society KAES, Los Angeles, California and Lecturer at California State University, Long Beach. Director of the Kurdish Human Rights Advocacy Group ( KHRAG).

The opinions are those of the writer and do not necessarily represent the views of iKurd.net or its editors.