Syrian human rights activists and intellectuals have launched a campaign through the NGO Avaaz to gather signatures and mobilize support for Operation Peace Spring which the Turkish army and the Syrian National Army launched against the PYD militia east of the Euphrates.
The campaign statement said that more than two million people who were displaced from the provinces of Deir Ezzor, Raqqa, Hasaka and Aleppo are not allowed to return to their homes without a guarantee from the PYD militia commanders, many of whom came from the Qandil Mountains.
The statement pointed out that the remaining civilians in the areas under the control of the PYD militia “suffer injustice, impoverishment, arrest and enforced disappearance.”
The statement denounced the PYD militia’s violations against civilians, especially the forced recruitment, turning the region into an arena for score-settling, and “the deployment of foreign mercenaries at the border.”
Moreover, the statement stressed the strong relationship between the Assad regime and the PYD militia, noting that “those who were brought up by the regime to serve its goals can only be tools for its policies aimed at sowing divisions and racism amongst the Syrian people.”
It stressed the importance of making the region a model for the upholding of the principles and values of the Syrian revolution; to give everyone equal rights under the rule of law; and ensure representation of the people of the region in its institutions. (Source: Syrian National Coalition’s Media Department)