File Image
On April 12, Hasan Sindi spokesman for the Turkish-backed Afrin Liberation Congress (ALC) revealed to the German DW TV that the Turkish Hatay province will be responsible for coordinating the administration in Syria’s Afrin area, that’s currently under the control of Turkish-backed forces. Turkey is even planning to appoint a Turkish governor and district governor to directly run Afrin, according to Sindi.
“A governor will be appointed to Afrin. Yet, we don’t know who this person will be. It is still uncertain. But it will be someone from Turkey and will be appointed by the government. There will also be a district governor, again from Turkey,” said Şindi, according to DW.
The city of Afrin was captured by the Turkish Army and its proxies on March 18. A day later, the ALC held its first conference. Sindi claims that the ALC consists of Kurdish, Alevis and Yazidis members and that it is helping the displaced civilians to return to their villages and towns in Afrin.
However, Several Syrian and Kurdish activists believe that Turkey is implementing a long term policy that’s aimed at annexing Afrin and several other areas in northern Syria. The appointment of Turkish officials to run Afrin confirms the suspicions of these activists.
However, some local observers believe that it will very hard for Turkey to annex any part of Syria, as Russia, the US, Iran, Saudi Arabia and many other regional and international forces will oppose to such a step. Thus, Ankara will likely try to establsih a kind of “autonomy” within Syria in these areas, which would be controlled by Turkey-backed forces.
