March held in Zalin on anniversary of Turkish occupation of North and East Syria

ZALIN, Syria — The Municipal and Environmental Protection Committee of Zalin (Qamishli) Canton in North and East Syria organized a march to mark the anniversary of Turkey’s invasion of Tel Abyad and Rish Ayno (Ras al-Ayn) in October 2019.

During the march, member of the committee Sabah Shabo (Syriac Union Party, SUP) delivered a speech in Syriac in which she spoke about the crimes committed on the civilian population by the Turkish occupation and its Syrian National Army (SNA) proxies. Shabo accused Turkey of seeking to change the demographics of the region by killing and displacing the Chaldean–Syriac–Assyrian people and settling Syrian from other parts of the country into their homes.

Turkey’s ultimate goal, said Shabo, was to resurrect the Ottoman Sultanate. She went on to condemn the expansionist and repressive policies of Turkey and recalled the martyrs of the Syriac Military Council (MFS), who gave their lives in order to ensure the continued presence of the Chaldean–Syriac–Assyrian people in their homeland.