Austrian Delegation Visits NE Syria, Expresses Solidarity Against Turkish Threats

On Saturday, a delegation from Austria visited the Department of Foreign Relations of the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES) in the city of Qamishli.

The Austrian delegation included the Green Party MP Ewa Dziedzic and the Austrian political scientist Thomas Schmidinger.

The delegation was received by the two deputies of the co-presidency of the AANES Foreign Relations Department Fanar al-Gait and Abir Ilia.

The visit comes to discuss the recent developments in northeast Syria (Rojava), especially the Turkish threats against the people of the region.

“I am here to support Rojava [AANES-held areas],” Dziedzic told North Press saying that “Rojava needs solidarity.”

The AANES was first formed in 2014 in the Kurdish-majority regions of Afrin, Kobani and Jazira in northern Syria following the withdrawal of the government forces. Later, it was expanded to Manbij, Tabqa, Raqqa, Hasakah and Deir ez-Zor after the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) defeated ISIS militarily.

She added that the threatening scenario by Turkey’s military actions against the Kurds has become even more acute.

“I am here to deliver a report to Austria and Europe about what could or will happen if Erdogan, with the silent acquiescence of the West, carries out what he has announced – violence, forced escape, oppression,” she noted.

The visit of the Austrian delegation will address the situation of ISIS militants and the European women who had joined ISIS.

Ewa Dziedzic stressed that the Austrian and European parliament need to shake up “the European population in the sense that there must be no deal with Erdogan on the back of the Kurds.”

In December 2020, Ewa Dziedzic visited the AANES-held areas the AANES the Department of Foreign Relations in the city of Qamishli.