Syriac Military Council spokesman Hanna: Turkish occupation repeats the Ottoman genocide against the Syriac people

NORTH AND EAST SYRIA — In  an interview with Hawar News, Spokesperson for the Syriac Military Council (Mawtbo Fulḥoyo Suryoyo, MFS) Aram Hanna stated that, “The crimes committed by the Turkish occupation state and its Syrian National Army (SNA) in North and East Syria in general, and the countryside of Tel Tamr in particular, are a continuation of the 1915 Sayfo Genocide.”

Hanna added that the Turkish military and its proxies are the grandchildren of the perpetrators of the Sayfo and today they are continuing their atrocities in Rish Ayno (Ras al-Ayn) and the Syriac–Assyrian villages in the countryside of Tel Tamr in the Khabur River Valley.

“The Turkish attacks killed and displaced civilians from their homes and churches,” said Hanna. “Afterwards, they were looted and destroyed.” He stated that despite all these violations, the international community has remained silent, as it did in 1915 about the Sayfo Genocide.

“We call on the international community to hold Turkey and its mercenaries accountable and exert maximum pressure to force it to end its occupation of Syria,” he added.

Regarding the MFS role in responding to Turkish attacks, Hanna declared that the MFS, which is an essential part of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), continue to defend Tel Tamr and respond to Turkish attacks, which have not ceased since they invaded the area in October 2019.

He added that MFS had previously warned the U.S.-led International Coalition of the danger posed by Turkey in the region and to the Syriac (Aramean–Assyrian–Chaldean) people in particular given the country’s long history of committing massacres against them.