The German government is considering financial aid for Turkey for the construction of refugee accommodation in northern Syria. Chancellor Merkel promised this to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan during her visit to Turkey. Kurdish politician Salih Muslim finds clear words for German support of the Turkish policy of a demographic reorganization in Northern Syria. "Help is not lent to the aggressor, but to the victims," the spokesman of the PYD (Party of Democratic Union) told Civaka Azad.

During her visit to Istanbul, the Chancellor said that the issue was about ways to help Turkey provide care for people living in tents on Syrian territory. Merkel was quoted as saying that Turkey faces a "huge problem" here. In view of the situation of the refugees in winter, the German government -she said- would examine whether this could be supported financially. Resettlements in the so-called "security zone" would have to be clarified with the UN refugee relief agency.

However, Merkel did not mention a word about the EU partner's war of aggression against the self-governing areas of northern and eastern Syria, which has been ongoing since 9 October 2019 and is supported by jihadist militias. So far, at least 300,000 people have been displaced from their ancestral homes in the occupied cities of Serêkaniyê (Ras al-Ain) and Girê Spî (Tal Abyad). And the remaining areas in the border strip are also being terrorized unabatedly - despite a ceasefire agreement with Russia - in order to expel the original inhabitants and make room for the relatives of allied Islamists.

Salih Muslim explained: "If Germany wants to help, it should help the children and women who have become victims of the Turkish occupation and now have to spend the cold winter in camps under difficult conditions. Any support to Erdogan will go to the Islamist gangs and their families settled in northern Syria. If Erdogan's aim had been to help the people of northern Syria, he would not have killed them and driven them from their homes. These people must be led back into their homes under international observation in order to stop the demographic change. Germany could take responsibility here, because help is not lent to the aggressor, but to the victims".

Medico International: A breach of taboo

Anita Starosta of Medico International describes Chancellor Merkel's statement on possible support for Turkey in northern Syria during her visit to Erdoğan in Istanbul as "a breach of taboo that has long been announced".

"If the UN - on Germany's initiative - were to support the settlement of refugees in the Turkish security zone, this would be a breach of taboo that not only recognises Turkey's war in northern Syria, but actively supports it. It cannot and must not be allowed that a war of aggression contrary to international law, which the scientific service of the Bundestag (German Parliament) has described as the Turkish invasion, is legitimized with international and German aid. If these funds flow into northern Syria, the German government will be complicit in the expulsion and persecution of the Syrian Kurds," Starosta declared.