The International Community Must Stop Turkey’s Ethnic Cleansing Plans in Northern Syria

Wladimir van Wilgenburg is co-author of “The Kurds of Northern Syria: Governance, Diversity and Conflicts.” Amy Austin Holmes is a visiting scholar at Harvard University’s Middle East Initiative.

As airstrikes and artillery rain down on civilians in northeastern Syria, it’s clear that Turkey’s claims that its recent military offensive is about taking the lead in the global fight against the Islamic State are nothing but dangerous propaganda.

For years, Turkey’s government allowed Islamic State fighters to cross its territory into Syria. But, before Monday, there were no Islamic State fighter elements along Turkey’s border with Syria because Kurds, Arabs and Christians expelled them with help from the U.S. military. Today, these U.S. allies are running for their lives.

Under the guise of fighting terrorism and “securing” the border, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s real plan is to remove Kurds from that border and radically re-engineer local demographics. The initial Turkish attacks have already displaced an estimated 100,000 people, marking the fourth Turkish intervention in Syria since 2016.