TEV-DEM calls for accountability for attacks on returnees to Girê Spî

The Democratic Society Movement (TEV-DEM) issued a statement today regarding attacks on displaced families returning to Girê Spî. 

The statement condemned attacks targeting members of the Kurdish people returning to their homes in Girê Spî/Tel Abyad, including assaults, intimidation, and the burning of property and vehicles by outlaw groups.

It stressed that these attacks were neither isolated incidents nor mere violations against individuals and property. Rather, they represented a serious threat to civil peace, undermined the foundations of peaceful coexistence, and sought to sow fear and distrust among the components of Syrian society.

The statement called on the transitional government to intervene immediately to stop the attacks, provide the necessary protection for displaced people returning to their homes, and hold all those involved in assaults, arson, and intimidation accountable. It also called for ensuring that displaced people could return to their areas safely and with dignity, and for taking clear, practical measures to prevent such violations from recurring and end impunity.

It emphasized that raising the Syrian flag does not give anyone legitimacy to attack citizens, justify violations of their rights, or turn a crime into a patriotic act. Those who hide behind national symbols to justify their chauvinistic practices do not serve Syria’s unity; rather, they undermine its meaning, threaten social cohesion, and open the door to further divisions and foreign interference. The flag that unites Syrians, the statement said, must stand for equality, justice, and partnership.

The statement warned that the continuation of such practices, tolerance of them, or failure to hold their perpetrators accountable would deepen divisions among Syria’s communities, erode trust, and obstruct any serious path toward integration and national consensus, threatening stability and civil peace. Genuine integration cannot be imposed by force or achieved through exclusion and intimidation. It must be based on mutual recognition, guarantees of national and democratic rights, respect for the will of all communities, and the building of an equal national partnership.

The statement held the transitional government responsible for taking urgent action to put an end to these violations. It also urged the public to act with awareness and responsibility and not to be drawn into provocations and attempts to incite discord aimed at dragging the region into further tension and division. It said, “Foiling these schemes requires maintaining unity, strengthening social solidarity, and continuing the political and democratic struggle in defense of our people’s rights and dignity.”

The statement noted that the transitional government’s response to these attacks would serve as a practical measure of its commitment to building a new Syria that embraces all its people.

It affirmed that the rights of the Kurdish people were not negotiable and that their dignity and security were inalienable rights. It concluded that building a democratic, pluralistic, decentralized Syria founded on justice, partnership, and recognition of the rights of all its communities was the true path to safeguarding the country’s unity and securing the future of its people.

A-H 

ANHA