Erdogan’s dark objectives in Syria include country’s resources

Turkey on Sunday cut off the drinking water that
feeds the Hasakah city in north-eastern Syria, the Syrian state news agency
SANA reported.
Turkish forces stopped the pumping of water in the
al-Olouk station in the countryside of Hasakah, depriving one million people in
the city from drinking water, SANA said.
The report added the Turkish forces prevented the
workers in the station from accessing it on Sunday.
A report by Al-Arabiya also revealed that Turkey
reduced the flow of water from the Euphrates River into north-eastern Syria’s
dam for the second week in a row, depriving hundreds of civilians of access to
water that is used to generate electricity and irrigate crops.
The shortage of water in the Euphrates dam, the
country’s largest, has decreased the amount of electric energy needed to
provide food for dozens of cities in the north.
Farmers, according to Al-Arabiya’s report, have
complained that the reduction could threaten the production of summer crops,
such as cotton, which Kurdish authorities say could lead to a humanitarian
catastrophe.
Turkey controls areas in northern and north-eastern
Syria following a campaign against the Kurdish-led militias last October.
The Syrian government has called for the withdrawal
of US and Turkish forces from Syria, branding them as forces of occupation.
In March, Human Rights Watch urged Turkey to refrain
from cutting off needed water supplies to Kurdish-held areas in north-eastern
Syria.
The shortage of water would disrupt humanitarian
agencies’ ability to protect vulnerable civilians from the coronavirus
outbreak, the organisation warned.
“In the midst of a global pandemic that is
overloading sophisticated governance and infrastructure systems, Turkish
authorities have been cutting off the water supply to regions most under strain
in Syria,” said Michael Page, deputy Middle East director at Human Rights
Watch.
“The Turkish authorities should do everything they
can to immediately resume supply to these communities.”
Local authorities and humanitarian groups in
north-eastern Syria have frequently spoken up about immense obstacles to
putting a COVID-19 plan in place.
They said they are unable to bring additional
supplies into the region because the border with Iraq’s Kurdistan region is
closed.
The UN Security Council’s de-authorisation of
al-Yarubiyeh crossing for cross-border supply in January, due to the threat of
a veto of the entire resolution by Russia, has also affected supplies.
Al-Yarubiyeh was primarily used by the World Health
Organisation to provide supplies to north-eastern Syria.
Since the beginning of the Turkish state’s
formation, Ankara “has set its sights on the issue of water, and used it as a
pressure card on its neighbours,” Dubai-based Kurdish Syrian dissident Walid
Haj Abdul Qadir told The Arab Weekly.
Currently, Turkey continues to build and manage dams
over the Euphrates River unfairly, causing the Syrians’ share of the river to
drop to less than 25%of the internationally agreed rate.
This is happening for the first time since the
signing of two international agreements in 1996 and 1997 between Syria and
Iraq.
The largest Turkish dams are Ataturk Dam in Urfa and
Ilisu Dam in the Tigris River that crosses Syrian territory on its way to Iraq.
The Ilisu Dam has already resulted in a 60%
reduction in the water level in Tigris due to the operation of electric
turbines.
Since the start of the Syrian crisis in March 2011,
Turkey has been attempting to meddle in the affairs of the war-torn country,
exploiting popular protests that erupted in the country to its favour.
Turkey has worked to infiltrate Syria while opening
the borders to displaced Syrians and Syrian opposition, with both its military
and civil components, especially the opposition affiliated to the Muslim
Brotherhood, Salafist and extremist currents.
Ankara has put all its weight behind extremist
militias and supported groups blacklisted as terrorists, such as al-Nusra
Front, which was considered a branch of al-Qaeda in Syria.
Al-Nusra Front followed Turkish orders and obtained
both material and media support from Turkey to fight on its behalf in Idlib and
other Syrian regions.
Turkish authorities worked to empower numerous
terrorist groups, financing them with
weapons and facilitating their entry into and out of Syria across the Turkish
border. They worked to turn Idlib into a terrorist haven under the supervision
of Turkish intelligence.
For years, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s
intelligence services have sought to transform Idlib into a terrorist hotbed
under their control under the pretext of fighting the Kurds.
Turkish intelligence services have also exploited
Idlib to maintain Turkey’s influence in Syria, using it as a passageway and a
launchpad to threaten the security of other nearby provinces, such as Aleppo,
Latakia, Homs and Hama.
In the meantime, Turkey opened its land and air
borders to terrorists from all over the world, helping smuggle them into Syria
to fight in the name of jihad alongside ISIS and Al-Nusra.
Ankara also robbed Syria of its natural resources,
such as oil and water from the Euphrates River, by building dams that risk
causing a humanitarian catastrophe for people there.
Erdogan, meanwhile, has insisted he is concerned for
the welfare of the Syrian people, saying that his country is the only one that
sees people, not oil, when looking at Syria.
However, Erdogan’s revelation last March that he
asked his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, to help manage oil fields in the
eastern province of Deir ez-Zor in a bid to strip Syrian Kurds of oil revenue,
proved otherwise.
“I made the offer to Mr. Putin that if he gives
financial support, we can do the construction and through the oil obtained
here, we can help destroyed Syria get on its feet,” said Erdogan.
“Instead of terrorists benefiting here, we would
have the opportunity to rebuild Syria from the revenues of this [oil field].
This will also show who’s after protecting Syria’s unity and who’s after
seizing it,” he added.
Syria’s oil reserves, the largest of which are
concentrated in Deir ez-Zor, constitute about two billion barrels. Most of the
declared oil fields are located near the borders with Iraq and Turkey.
The Omar field, the country’s largest and most
famous oil field is located in Deir ez-Zor’s countryside, along Al Izbah field.
Most of these oil fields are controlled by the
Syrian Democratic Forces, which is designated by Turkey as a terrorist
organisation.
Erdogan was accused of forging a serious economic partnership
with ISIS, buying oil from the terrorist organisation while also providing it
weapons and logistical assistance.
With the emergence of the coronavirus pandemic, the
Turkish government has also been accused of shipping weapons under the cover of
humanitarian aid to terrorists in Idlib and other areas under Turkish control
in Syria, such as Afrin and other border areas between Tal Abyad and Ras
al-Ain.
Turkey has allegedly committed numerous humanitarian
violations and massacres against Syrian civilians in Idlib and Afrin. It
systematically worked to empower Turkish militias such as the Sultan Murad
Brigade, which has committed vicious crimes, such as kidnapping women and
children.
The list of alleged Turkish crimes in Syria is quite
long but the objective is one: Looting Syria’s natural resources in areas
controlled by pro-Turkish groups, with the aim of funding Erdogan’s
expansionist project in the region.