Since Turkey launched its military incursion into northeast Syria one week ago, there have been widespread reports of civilian casualties caused by air strikes and artillery fire, as well as by Turkish ground forces fighting against the Kurdish Peoples’ Protection Units (YPG) and the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF). The Turkish offensive has resulted in mass displacement, with more than 160,000 civilians fleeing over the past week. Human rights activists and Kurdish representatives have also expressed fears of “ethnic cleansing” being perpetrated by Turkish forces.
Since the offensive began last Wednesday, 9 October, the UN Office of the High
Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) has documented attacks on five health facilities by Turkish forces and affiliated non-state armed groups, as well as attacks on water supplies and bakeries. After a film emerged of the summary execution of civilians by the Turkish-backed armed group Ahrar al Sharqiya on 12 October, OHCHR warned that Turkey could be responsible for possible war crimes.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan stated on 13 October that Turkey will not halt its offensive and has ruled out any peace negotiations with Kurdish political representatives. The Turkish offensive has forced the YPG and SDF to broker a deal with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. On 14 October Syrian government troops moved into some towns and villages in northeastern
Syria that have previously been controlled by the YPG and SDF. This marked the end of more than five years of Kurdish self-rule across most of northeast Syria.
Turkey’s stated goal is to establish a “safe zone” in northeast Syria after it has been “cleared” of the YPG and SDF, and to resettle up to two million Syrian refugees who are currently in Turkey. Under international law, returns of refugees and other displaced persons must be undertaken in accordance with the principle of non-refoulement and must be safe, voluntary and dignified. Turkey’s planned “safe zone” in northeast Syria would appear to meet none of these criteria.
Risks associated with a potential resurgence of the so-called Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) are also high as Kurdish forces are struggling to hold thousands of ISIL members in prisons in northeast Syria. At least 750 suspected ISIL members and supporters escaped from Ain Issa camp in Raqqa governorate on 10 October. ISIL poses an existential threat to Kurdish, Yazidi and other minority communities in Syria.
On 15 October the UN Special Advisers for the Prevention of Genocide and the Responsibility to Protect released a joint statement arguing that, “civilians of Syria continue to live through one of the worst conflicts of our time, with repeated violations of their basic rights and protections guaranteed
under international law.” The Special Advisers condemned the “latest escalation” and insisted that the UN Security Council do more to uphold its responsibility to protect.
The international community must turn its moral outrage regarding Turkey’s military incursion in northeast Syria into practical diplomatic action. All UN member states should join Canada, Germany, France, Finland and The Netherlands in immediately halting arms sales to Turkey. States should also impose targeted sanctions on those with command responsibility for possible ethnic cleansing and other crimes in northeast Syria, including extrajudicial killings, forced displacement and the deliberate destruction of vital civilian infrastructure.