
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – The president of the executive committee of the Syrian Democratic Council (SDC), Ilham Ahmed, has called on the US congress and US President Donald Trump to “honor their commitment” and pass sanctions against the Turkish government.
In several tweets early on Sunday, Ahmed sent a message to the US congress and President Trump to stick to their initial commitment by passing and enforcing sanctions on the Turkish government and its defense industry , who have violated the ceasefire in Northeast Syria.
“In the absence of a true ceasefire, we also call upon the US congress and President Trump to honor their commitment to pass and enforce sanctions against the Turkish government and defense industry until the withdrawal of Turkish and Turkish-backed forces from Northeast Syria,” Ahmed tweeted.
President Trump had previouslysanctioned several Turkish ministers and government ministries following the Turkish invasion of Northern Syria, but lifted the sanctions soon after.
In another tweet, Ahmed warned the “effective and loyal” ally, the US-led coalition in the fight against the Islamic State (ISIS), that the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) are being “hunted like the very terrorists against whom they fought to protect the world, sacrificing 11,000 brave men and women over the course of five years.”
Ahmed also sent a request from “one free and democratic governing body to another”, as she called on the friends of SDF in the US congress to investigate Turkey’s use of US-made weapons and surveillance technology in Rojava and to stop providing armaments to Turkey during the investigation.
The SDC, the political wing of the SDF which administers the Kurdish enclave of northern Syria also announced in a statement on Saturday that they are ready to start “negotiations” with Damascus regarding northeast Syria.The SDC confirmed that they are ready to start negotiation with the Syrian government to prevent the division of Syrian territories by ‘Turkish fascist mercenaries”.
“We followed President Bashar al-Assad’s interview last night. Although we disagree with many of the issues he raised…we have seen from his speech that he is ready to engage in a real negotiation process,” the statement read.
Turkish proxies attacked the Hasakah province town of Tel Tamr on Wednesday, taking control of a number of surrounding villages and displacing residents and breaking the ceasefire in Northeast Syria. In response, Damascus sent reinforcements to the town on Thursday and retook the villages.