Equipo Nizkor - UNSC S/2016/521 - Letter from Syria regarding the continued attacks against the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Syria by Turkey.

United Nations
Security Council

S/2016/521

Distr.: General
13 June 2016
English
Original: Arabic

Identical letters dated 8 June 2016 from the Permanent Representative 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 continued attacks against the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Syrian Arab Republic by the Turkish regime, including its continued support of armed terrorist groups that are committing barbaric acts of terrorism in the territory of the Syrian Arab Republic, I should like to convey to you the following information:

On 1 May 2016, a group of Turkish soldiers, accompanied by construction vehicles and bulldozers, went to a hill located inside Syrian territory next to the villages of Qah, Atimah and Aqrabat, in the countryside of Idlib governorate. They built fortifications and emplacements on the hill, and had terrorist groups affiliated with the so-called Free Army encircle the hill. On 19 May 2016, Turkish authorities had several construction vehicles brought into Syrian territory. Those vehicles were used to dig trenches measuring approximately 150 metres heading west, in the north-western part of the city of Qamishli, Hasakah governorate. The Turkish authorities have also opened a clandestine border crossing as an alternative to the Bab al-Salam crossing. That clandestine crossing originates in Turkish territory and enters Syrian territory near the village of Hawar Killis, some 17 kilometres north-east of I'zaz, and is used to deliver heavy weapons (tanks and tracked vehicles) to armed terrorist groups, including the Sultan Murad Brigade, Ahrar al-Sham, the Nusrah Front and Faylaq al-Sham.

In providing you with this serious information, the Government of the Syrian Arab Republic wishes to reaffirm that the practices and crimes of the Turkish regime constitute a flagrant violation of the principles of international law, the provisions of the Charter of the United Nations and the principles governing good -neighbourly and friendly relations between States Members of the United Nations. They also contravene Security Council resolutions concerning counter-terrorism, including resolutions 1267 (1999), 1373 (2001), 2170 (2014), 2178 (2014), 2199 (2015) and 2253 (2015), which reaffirm that States Members of the United Nations must not provide any form of support to terrorist groups or the members thereof.

The Government of the Syrian Arab Republic once again calls on the Security Council to fulfil its responsibilities and compel the Turkish regime to desist immediately from its barbaric practices, which threaten security and stability in the region and throughout the world, and to hold that regime accountable for its practice of supporting terrorism. The Council should also call on the Turkish regime to close its borders to armed terrorist groups and to stop arming and funding those groups. The regime should also put an end to its flagrant attacks against civilians in the city of Aleppo which, over the past two weeks, have caused the death of more than 250 people, mostly children and the elderly and other innocent people.

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

(Signed) Bashar Ja'afari
Ambassador
Permanent Representative

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13Jun16

Letter from Syria regarding the continued attacks against the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Syria by Turkey