Open letter to his Excellency Mr Antonio Guterres, Secretary-General of the United Nations

His Excellency Mr Antonio Guterres, Secretary-General of the United Nations,

Dear Sir,
We have always believed that the political solution and dialogue are the most important ways to resolve issues in Syria. We have shown our readiness in this regards and accepted that there will be other solutions with our neighbouring country, i.e. Turkey, regarding border security. However, Turkey disavowed the things that we agreed on and began to attack our peoples in north and east Syria.

We address you from our regions that were, on 09 October 2019, exposed to an unjustified Turkish military attack, which is an annihilation and genocidal campaign against the peoples of the region, including the Arabs, Kurds, Syriacs, Assyrians, Armenians and Turkmen as well as the Yazidis. The Turkish attack poses a direct threat to the stability and security of north and east Syria, which has been achieved through the sacrifices made by our peoples.

The Turkish aerial bombardments and artillery shelling are unjustified and based on pretexts that do not exist. They also constitute a flagrant violation of the sovereignty of our country and international law and covenants. There are dozens of civilian victims, including children and women and some villages and neighbourhoods in towns have been destroyed. The infrastructure and services have also been targeted. There is considerable displacement across the border areas amidst the panic and fear that has begun to disturb the innocent civilians in the region.

The silence over these unjustified and unlawful attacks portends very dire consequences. We hope that, considering your position and responsibility, you will act immediately to save the peoples of our region from genocide and to prevent Turkey from carrying out massacres against innocent civilians.

The Self-Administration of North and East Syria

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