Construction of the Turkish wall around Afrin. Source: al-Alarabiya.net
On April 25, the Syrian Democratic Council (SDC) released an official statement condemning the construction of a wall separating the Turkish-occupied area of Afrin from the rest of the northern Aleppo countryside.
“The wall is a step towards annexing Afrin to Turkey, as was done in the 1930s when Ankara separated Iskenderun from Syria and annexed it to its territory under the name of the state of Hatay,” the statement reads.
According to the Kurdish-dominated council, the Turkish wall is 70km long, stretching between the towns of Maryamin north of Afrin and Kimar in the south.
The wall, which is made of reinforced concert, is similar to the one built by the Turkish military along the border with the northern Syrian governorate of Idlib. Local sources said that several monitoring towers are also being constructed along the wall.
The SDC criticized the silence of the international community over what it called the “immoral practices” of Turkey. The council even went on to slam the Damascus government for not taking any measures to stop the construction of the Turkish wall around Afrin.
“There is no serious stand by the Syrian regime towards the Turkish occupation of a part of Syria territory [Afrin],” the council said in the statement.
Forces loyal to the SDC and the Syrian Arab Army (SAA) are jointly controlling several key towns and villages, including Tell Rifaat, south of Afrin. Turkey is clearly trying to cut the occupied area from these towns and villages.
This active cooperation between Kurdish forces and the SAA near Afrin was likely behind the SDC’s decision to delete its statement few hours after its release.
Earlier this year, the SDC and the Damascus government began extensive negotiations over the fate of northeastern Syria and Afrin. Despite that no agreement has been reached so far. The decision to delete the council’s recent statement confirms that the relations between the two parties are improving.
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