Zovko urges UN Security Council to react immediately on the crisis in northeast Syria

Brussels, 9 October 2019

Today, member of the European Parliament Željana Zovko held a speech during the plenary session in Brussels on the developing crisis in northeast Syria. In her speech, Zovko stressed the urgent need for UN Security Council to react on current Turkish military action against the Kurds.

Zovko stated the following;

“While we are speaking, Turkish forces are entering the northeast of Syria in an offensive against a reliable western partner which played a crucial role in stabilizing Syria.

Yes, that partner, the Syrian Kurds, are being abandoned.

The impulsive decision to leave the ally raises deep concerns.

Due to the increased Turkish involvement in northeast Syria, we fear that ISIS will benefit and seize the opportunity to regroup.

Furthermore, we share Kurdish fears of massacre, as it was already case in the past in Afrin. Not only will the West lose a reliable partner in fight against terrorism but we may be a witness to human suffering and destruction.

The European Union is the biggest contributor to UN multilateral system that established instruments to prevent genocide, massacres and human catastrophes. Therefore, it is important that the Security Council take appropriate actions as soon as possible.

A possible displacement of people no matter how small it is, calls for international resistance.

Turkey is using a pretext of creating a safe zone.

We have seen the similar situation twenty-five years ago in Srebrenica and Bihać. We know the consequences of the first, and cost of reinstating its status in the case of the second.

As commission president Jean-Claude Juncker has said „if the plan involves the creation of a so called safe zone, don’t expect the EU to pay for it”. In this case, we certainly hope the EU shall go a step further.

 

We are moved by the uncertainty of the security of the Kurdish community; unconvinced about their future status; and we are appealing for full respect of international agreements on the subject matter by all actors in the country, in the region and internationally.

 

Europe must do its part!”

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