As a result of the Turkish army's attacks on the infrastructure in the Autonomous region of Northern and Eastern Syria, 2,890 villages have been left without electricity and water. The children cannot go to school and health care is severely affected.

ANF spoke to an Armenian, an Arab and a Syriac citizen in Qamishlo about the attacks. 

Turkish politics has been the same for a hundred years

Armenian Imad Teteriyan pointed out that the Turkish state is attacking the population in northeastern Syria because it is inferior to the guerrillas in northern Iraq: "When the Turkish state suffers losses, it attacks the civilian population and infrastructure. These attacks are inhumane and vile. Afrin, Serekaniye and Girê Spî have been occupied and jihadists have been settled there."

Teteryan continued: "The Turkish state wants to implement this policy throughout the entire region. It bombs people's livelihoods to drive them away through hunger and poverty. It obviously doesn't realize that the will of the population is being strengthened by these attacks. The peoples of northeast Syria have joined hands and are defending their land. The Turkish state's policy today follows the same premise as a hundred years ago. The genocidal policy against the Armenians is now being carried out against all population groups. The attacks not only affect the Kurdish people, they are a policy of war against all peoples. Northeast Syria is a rich region where people from different ethnic groups, denominations and religions live together."

The Turkish state is the emir of ISIS
When asked about her assessment of the attacks, the Arab Delal Hisen replied: "The Turkish state is the emir of ISIS."

Delal Hisen continued: "Due to the attacks, the supply of gas, electricity and water has been interrupted. The aim is to drive out the population. The people have come together here in the spirit of Abdullah Öcalan's project of a democratic nation. The attacks are not only directed against the infrastructure, but against this social model. The Turkish state wants to put its neo-Ottoman dreams into practice and destroy the unity of the peoples. This strengthens our will, and our attachment to liberal values becomes even stronger as a result of the attacks. When we say that we made the Rojava Revolution, it means that we are prepared for great pain. Making a revolution and presenting a paradigm against the state system to the whole world is not easy. The stronger we become, the more intense the attacks on us become. The population is aware of this. The guerrillas are fighting in the mountains for all peoples, and we are on the side of the Kurdish liberation struggle."

We got a taste of freedom

Bitris Bashir Basom is Syriac. He said that the Turkish state had declared war on the peoples, and added: "The attacks are deeply immoral. Our infrastructure is being attacked and the population is being intimidated with hunger. Defending northeast Syria is the responsibility of all nations in the region. Our country is under attack. What have we done to the Turkish state to make it attack us so brutally? [Erdoğan] is wrong if he thinks he can break our will with this."

Basom continued: "The peoples of Northeast Syria have tasted freedom and will continue on their path. After so much resistance and so many deaths, giving in is unthinkable for us. The people here have fought hand in hand to build a peaceful and stable life. To exist or not, this is a common question for us. We will not leave our homes and our land. The enemy believes he can break our will with electricity, water and fuel. Our children fell on the path to freedom, we gave our lives for it. Hunger and lack of water are hard on the people, but we will not give up and overcome these difficult times with the brotherhood of the peoples."