Turkey's attacks on Northern and Eastern Syria have been continuing since October 4. In the report prepared by the Autonomous Administration recently and sent to the United Nations, it was noted that Turkey carried out 304 air and land attacks in 224 different areas, and used artillery and heavy weapons in 221 of these attacks, and drones and warplanes in 83 of them. The report stated that gas and oil facilities, power plants, water stations and health centers, Waşûkanî and Roj camps where refugees live, and dozens of villages were targeted, and that 47 people, including 5 from Kobanê, lost their lives and 55 people were injured in the attacks.

 

In the attacks in which people were murdered, living spaces were targeted and many areas became unusable, the resulting natural destruction has reached dangerous levels. Zîwer Şêxo, Spokesperson of the Keziyên Kesk Initiative, which has been working to improve the ecological destruction in Northern and Eastern Syria since the Rojava Revolution, stated that the destruction of nature has deepened with the latest attacks. Şêxo stated that nature, along with people, have been subjected to massacres in Northern and Eastern Syria, where war has been ongoing for years, and that the ecological slaughter is gradually increasing with Turkey's latest attacks.

 

THE ATTACKS ON ECOLOGY

 

Expressing that Turkey's attacks on the ecological life of Northern and Eastern Syria are not new, Şêxo said: “This is a policy that has been carried out for a long time. At its root, there is a massacre against Kurdistan and ecology is used as a weapon in these massacres. Since the day it was founded, the Republic of Turkey has been trying to play with the demographics in Kurdistan. According to the ecological institutions here, 108 streams, springs and stream beds flow from Northern Kurdistan to Rojava Kurdistan. These are the main arteries of cities, places where people meet their water needs; however, these 108 water resources are constantly closed to us under Turkish control. Our village was one of the villages whose water was shut off. More than 200 villagers were living here; however, our stream water from Bakur was cut off by Türkiye 25 years ago. Most of our villagers, who had to gradually leave their villages, had to go abroad. People who leave their own lands need to die. This is not a physical death, it is an identity death."

 

'THE ATTACKS ARE THE TERRORISM OF STATE'

 

Stating that one of the main reasons for Turkey's attacks is to depopulate Northern and Eastern Syria and erase the Kurdish presence from these lands, Şêxo said: "We witnessed all these in the recent attacks. In Turkey's first attack on Afrin, they directly attacked living spaces. They plundered the olive trees, which are considered the identity of the city, by uprooting them. Considering the recent attacks, 5 million people in Northern and Eastern Syria were affected by these attacks. Not only Qamishlo, Raqqa and Kobanê, but also Damascus and Aleppo will be affected by these attacks. The number of people and area affected by the attacks exceeds the announced data. But these will be affected in the long run. On the other hand, there is natural destruction. Targeting water facilities in attacks will affect not only people but also nature and ecological balance. What we are experiencing are the results of state terrorism. The attacks are the terrorism of the state."

 

'THE REGION BECOMES A DESERT'

 

Drawing attention that Northern and Eastern Syria were heading towards desertification due to the practices of the Syrian regime in the past, Şêxo said: “The state becomes a desert. Everything starts after the establishment of nation states. Now Türkiye is doing the same. In those days, the Syrian regime was following policies that would oblige people to do so. Following ecological destruction, the number of people suffering from cancer increased; however, ecological destruction in a place does not only affect the people living there. Silence against this is unacceptable." 

 

4 MILLION TREES WILL BE PLANNED

 

Stating that, as an initiative, they have been fighting against ecological destruction since the first day of their establishment, Şêxo said: "We have been working to re-green the living spaces that were destroyed and tried to be destroyed, and that we  intensified our work after the attacks. We started a campaign to plant 4 million saplings. We started a year ago and have planted 70 thousand saplings so far. The Autonomous Administration established relevant committees in municipalities. Accordingly, everyone will afforeste their own village and living space. On the other hand, we will establish ecology schools. We are working together with the Ministry of Education of Northern and Eastern Syria to have one teacher teach the Social Ecology course in each school. Here we plan to teach ecology to children not only theoretically but practically. Finally, we created the 'Village Lungs' project. We went to villages and explained the ecological destruction and how to fix it. We plan to prevent the use of ecology weapons in these massacre policies that are tried to be deemed appropriate for us."

 

MA / Ceylan Şahinli