S/2017/145 - Letter from Syria regarding the attacks committed by Turkey against the sovereignty of Syria between Dec16 and Feb17.

United Nations
Security Council

S/2017/145

Distr.: General
23 February 2017
English
Original: Arabic

Identical letters dated 17 February 2017 from the Chargé d'affaires a.i. of the Permanent Mission of the Syrian Arab Republic to the United Nations addressed to the Secretary-General and the President of the Security Council

On instructions from my Government, and further to our previous letters regarding the grave and repeated violations and attacks committed by Turkey against the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Syrian Arab Republic, I should like to apprise you of the new, brazen attacks that were perpetrated by the Turkish regime against the Syrian people and the sovereignty and territorial unity and integrity of the Syrian Arab Republic. Those acts constitute a threat to international peace and security and are in line with the Turkish regime's open support for terrorism.

On 17 December 2016, Turkish forces, accompanied by terrorist groups belonging to the so-called Free Syrian Army, infiltrated Syrian territory at the village of Tuki, which is located in the Amuda region of Hasakah governorate.
On 11 January 2017, the Turkish authorities brought heavy machinery into Syrian territory north-east of the village of Khazrah, Amuda district, Hasakah governorate. Those machines were accompanied by members of the Turkish Border Guard. They proceeded to build a dirt road approximately 20 metres long inside Syrian territory. They also dug a trench and laid cement beams for the construction of a barrier wall.
On 14 January 2017, Turkish forces equipped with excavators infiltrated 250 metres into Syrian territory in the village of Arab Jum'ah, which is located in the area of Shira, Afrin region, Aleppo governorate, and began to open a two-kilometre road for the purpose of building a barrier wall in the area.
On 14 and 15 January 2017, the Turkish Army infiltrated Syrian territory with heavy bulldozers at the villages of Qirmitliq and Khazafiyah in the Shaykh Hadid district, Afrin region, Aleppo governorate. They cleared the land, uprooting some 1,000 olive trees and dozens of pomegranate trees belonging to the inhabitants of the village of Qirmitliq and approximately 1,500 olive trees belonging to the people of the village of Khazafiyah in order to construct a road and a cement barrier wall in the area. On the same date, Turkish forces seized a plot of land in the exclusion zone near the village of Arab Buran, Sirran district, Afrin region, and moved a 600-metre long barbed wire strip 100 metres into Syrian territory.
On 16 January 2017, Turkish forces, accompanied by heavy machinery, infiltrated Syrian territory opposite the village of Atbah, which is located in the Jawadiyah district of Hasakah governorate. The dug a trench running from the above-mentioned village towards the villages of Dayr Ghusn and Bab Sulayman, which are located in that same area, and used construction equipment to build up mounds of crushed rock, with a view to building a barrier wall.
On 22 January 2017, opposite the village of Hayakli, which is located in the Bulbul district of Aleppo governorate, Turkish Border Guard troops brought heavy machinery 300 metres into Syrian territory and began digging a trench in preparation for the construction of a barrier wall.
In Harim district, Idlib governorate, the Turkish authorities seized approximately six dunums of Syrian land located near the commercial bakery. They proceeded to build a road that runs to the seized land, which is the property of Syrian civilians. Turkish forces also infiltrated approximately one kilometre into Syrian territory in the villages of Khirbat al-Jawz, Zawf, Nasirah and Hayta, Idlib governorate, and built roads running between those villages. They also began building a barrier wall in that area.
The Turkish authorities also recently established a military base in Syrian territory. The base is in the village of Jatrar, which lies north of Tall Rif'at town, Aleppo governorate, and comprises an ammunition depot and quarters for Turkish officers and soldiers. The base also houses terrorists of the so-called Euphrates Shield group, which is supported by the Turkish authorities. They also seized Syrian territory near Kuljibrin village, which is located in I'zaz district, Aleppo governorate, and uprooted trees in preparation for the establishment of a military base.
On 5 February, a Turkish military force infiltrated an area 300 metres in depth and 3 kilometres in length in the Bulbul district, which is located in the Afrin countryside, Aleppo governorate. The force cut down forest trees, dug trenches and built a concrete wall.

These attacks are a continuation of the Turkish regime's aggression that began more than five years ago. That regime has provided various forms of military, material and logistical support to armed terrorist groups; facilitated the entry of foreign terrorist fighters into Syria; established training camps in its territory under direct Turkish military and intelligence supervision; provided covering fire in support of terrorist groups inside Syria; and armed those groups with the most modern weaponry. The Turkish regime has even provided them with medical care inside Turkey. It is also no secret that the regime has built a wall inside Syrian territory to the detriment of the landowners, something that is contrary to good-neighbourly relations.

The Government of the Syrian Arab Republic strongly condemns Turkey's repeated crimes and acts of aggression against the Syrian people and the territorial integrity and unity of the Syrian Arab Republic. Such actions are a bare-faced violation of Syrian sovereignty. They also flagrantly contravene the purposes and principles of the Charter of the United Nations, the rules of international law and all Security Council resolutions concerning Syria and counter-terrorism.

The Government of the Syrian Arab Republic once again calls on the Security Council to fulfil its responsibility to maintain international peace and security, and to put an end to the above-mentioned crimes that the Turkish regime is committing against the Syrian people and to its repeated aggressions against Syrian territory. The Council must also compel the Turkish regime to implement the Council's resolutions on counter-terrorism, and to respect fully the integrity and unity of the territory and people of the Syrian Arab Republic.

I should be grateful if the present letter could be circulated as a document of the Security Council.

(Signed) Mounzer Mounzer
Minister Counsellor
Chargé d'affaires a.i.

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23Feb17

Letter from Syria regarding the attacks committed by Turkey against the sovereignty of Syria between Dec16 and Feb17