“France should increase aid provisions to North and East Syria”

On Mar 31, 2023

The visit of a delegation from the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria for diplomatic talks in the French capital Paris caused excitement in Ankara and led to the summoning of the French ambassador. The Target Platform spoke to Roksan Muhammad, one of the participants in the delegation, about the visit. Last weekend, the External Office of the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES) announced that a delegation would visit the French Senate in Paris. The delegation included Bedran Ciya Kurd as Co-Chairman of the Office of External Relations, Abdulkarim Omar as AANES representative in Europe, Xalid İsa as AANES representative in France, and YPG spokesman Nuri Mahmud and YPJ spokeswoman Roksan Muhammad. The People’s Defense Units (YPG) and the all-women units of the YPJ are both part of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), which are the region’s armed forces.

Last weekend, the External Office of the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES) announced that a delegation would visit the French Senate in Paris. The delegation included Bedran Ciya Kurd as Co-Chairman of the Office of External Relations, Abdulkarim Omar as AANES representative in Europe, Xalid İsa as AANES representative in France, and YPG spokesman Nuri Mahmud and YPJ spokeswoman Roksan Muhammad. The People’s Defense Units (YPG) and the all-women units of the YPJ are both part of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), which are the region’s armed forces. The delegation was received on Saturday by Pierre Laurent, Vice President of the French Senate. The visit comes in the wake of the March 20 massacre in Turkish-held Jindires, near Afrin, in which four Kurds were killed by members of a pro-Turkish Syrian opposition group during Newroz celebrations.

Roksan Muhammad told Target: “In our conversations, we talked about Newroz and the value of this holiday for the Kurds. After that, we talked about the situation in North and East Syria, about the position of women and the role of the women’s protection units YPJ in the war against the IS”. The Islamic State (IS) continues to be a major threat to the entire region. In the Autonomous Administration alone, thousands of its members are imprisoned and outside the prisons, IS, which continues to carry out attacks, is seeking its resurgence.

The YPJ spokeswoman said: “We also discussed the latest military developments and beyond that, the threat from ISIS that still exists not only in the region but also in Europe and how these risks can be contained”. Europe is aware of this threat after the attacks. In France in particular, IS carried out several bloody attacks, including the Bataclan attack in Paris and the truck attack in Nice. Today in Syria, the fight against ISIS is mainly carried out by the SDF and the US-led International Coalition Against ISIS, with France under the name ‘Opération Chammal’ a member of the coalition, but like the rest of Europe is hardly active anymore. Today in Syria, the fight against ISIS is mainly carried out by the SDF and the US-led International Coalition Against ISIS, with France under the name ‘Opération Chammal’ a member of the coalition, but like the rest of Europe is hardly active anymore.

As the talks continued, attention was drawn to the humanitarian situation in the region, especially after the devastating earthquake on February 6th. The humanitarian situation in northern Syria has been catastrophic since the earthquake. Humanitarian aid from abroad hardly reaches the Autonomous Administration and in the other areas of northern Syria, pure chaos reigns, where opposition factions and security forces of the government confiscate some of the aid and discriminate against certain ethnic groups, such as the Kurds in Afrin or parts of Aleppo in the distribution. In this, but also a connection with the general situation in northern and eastern Syria, Roksan Muhammad warned: “We also talked about how the region can be supported and how this aid can be increased in order to alleviate the region’s hardship”.

The Vice-President of the French Senate stressed France’s interest in further cooperation with AANES in the field of security and counter-terrorism and expressed his sincere condolences to the victims of the Newroz killings in Jinderis and the victims of the deadly earthquake.

At a later Newroz celebration in Paris, Nuri Mahmud and Roksan Muhammad received the Medal of Honor for their work against the Islamic State (IS) from French Senator Xavier Ecoville on behalf of the French Senate. Muhammad said: “The award we were presented with was a form of thanks, appreciation, and praise to our people and our armed forces for resisting. We were honored by the French Senate for the sacrifices made by our armed forces to protect the region and in the fight against terrorism“.

Despite the special honor, however, Muhammad criticized the French policy, which failed in its duties in other areas. In northern Syria, large parts of the country are under Turkish occupation. While Turkey has ruled these areas for years with the help of affiliated Syrian opposition groups, human rights abuses and war crimes, documented from many quarters, are the order of the day in these areas.

Despite these conditions, there is international silence in this regard. Referring to the crimes in occupied Afrin, Muhammad said: “During the speeches, the role of our armed forces was extolled, but the recent massacre in Afrin and the crimes that started five years ago and are still ongoing today were also discussed. We have stressed that our partners in France must take action, especially after the Newroz night massacre, to protect the local population and to better support us.”