RONÎDA HACÎ

Hesekê (Hasakah)– Jihadist Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) started conducting massacres against the Alawite community in Syria’s coastal region on March 6, killing more than 1,000 people. Kurdish, Arab, Syriac and Armenian women living in the city of Hasakah, northeastern Syria, condemn the killings of Alawites in the coastal region.

Gulê Mihemed, a Kurdish woman in Hasakah, strongly condemned the massacres carried out against the Alawite community. “After the fall of the Baathist regime, the Syrian people expected to have a free and democratic life; however, HTS and government-backed armed groups have been carried out massacres against people, women and children in Syria’s  Latakia, Homs and Tartus cities, heavily populated by Alawites. There is an international silence against these massacres.”

‘We want to live together in a peaceful Syria’

Gulê Mihemed defined the international silence as a “historic shame” and said, “Where are the organizations defending human rights? The killed women and children were innocent. Those who conducted genocidal attacks against Armenians, Kurds, Yazidis and Syriacs now conduct genocidal attacks against Alawites. Who will be the next? As women of North and East Syria, we condemn such attacks and want to live together in a peaceful Syria. HTS deepens the Syrian crisis by carrying out massacres and attacks. HTS has a jihadist ideology supported by the Turkish state. I call on the Syrian people to unite against the genocidal attacks.”

Call on Syrian women to unite

Nawal Salûm, a Syriac woman in the city, also condemned the recent attacks on Alawites. “Alawite women and children were killed while International Women’s Day was celebrated all over the world. Following the fall of the Baathist regime, we had hope for freedom and democracy. Unfortunately, the attacks of HTS on Alawites pose a risk to the new Syria. The aim of the interim government is to create chaos, deepen the civil war and conduct a genocide against the Syrian people. As Syriac women, we call on all Syrian women to unite and stand against this mindset posing a risk to the future of Syria.”

‘All women’s organizations should unite’

Massacres are unacceptable in any religion, Necah He was, an Arab woman in Hasakah, emphasized, adding:

“We are in the month of Ramadan, a holy month. The massacres carried out by HTS are against humanity, unacceptable in any religion. Ethnic and religious minorities in Syria started an uprising against the Baathist regime because they were ignored for years. The recent attacks against Alawites are the same attacks carried out by the Baathist regime. The Syrian people are at risk. We call on all women’s organizations to unite and rise up against the attacks.”

‘We cannot talk about a new Syria without Alawites’

Hayistan Kavoriyan, an Armenian woman, recalled the Armenian Genocide in 1915. “A genocide was conducted against Armenians in 1915 by the Ottoman Empire and now a genocide is conducted against Alawites by Syria’s interim government. Even though a century has passed, the policies are the same. They kill civilians for their own interests. We cannot talk about a new Syria without Alawites. We will build a free Syria together.”