Adana Convention – Syria surrendered and paved the ground for Turkish occupation

The Adana Agreement was concluded 11 days after the international conspiracy began in 1998 and was amended 20 days before the uprisings in Syria in 2011. The agreement paved the way for the 2019 occupation attacks on Serekaniye/ Ras al-Ain and Girê Spi/Tal Abyed, and Turkey is now seeking to use them to launch new occupation attacks.

Turkish occupying state continues its attacks on North and East Syria and threatens to occupy new areas therein. The Adana Convention supports such attacks. It was placed on the agenda with the Turkish occupation attacks on Serekaniye/ Ras al-Ain and Girê Spi/Tal Abyed in 2019, and has now been returned to the agenda to legitimize a new occupation attack.

What is the Adana Agreement? Why did Syria sign it? What happened next? We will answer these questions in our file.

This agreement was signed between the two Turkish delegations under the chairmanship of the Deputy Secretary-General of the Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs Ugur Ziyal and the Syrian General Adnan Badr al-Hassan on 20 October 1998 in the Turkish city of Adana. The then Syrian President was Hafiz al-Assad, Turkish President Suleiman Demiral and Mesut Yilmaz, Prime Minister and Ismail Jim, Turkish Foreign Minister. Following the poor relations between Turkey and Syria, then-US President Bill Clinton, intervened between the two States and, in the role of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and Iranian Foreign Minister Kamal Kharrazi, brought the two States together and concluded this agreement.

Because the distance between Adana and the Turkish and Syrian capitals was itself concluded there.

Why has Syria signed this Agreement?

Turkish occupying state threatened the Syrian government by taking advantage of leader Ocalan’s presence in Syria for some 20 years. It mobilized its military forces on the Syrian border. Syria was unable to withstand these threats and the pressure of Egypt, the United States of America, Britain and Israel and internal pressure of the brigades and bureaucracy. With this agreement, Syria’s borders have also been discussed. In addition, the Adana Agreement was a turning point in the implementation of the “Great Middle East Project.”

Leader Ocalan said at the time: “I do not want Syria, which has been hosting me for 19 years, to be under pressure because of me. This would be a shame “, and he was forced to leave Syria on October 9, 1998.

The international plot began in this form, and although leader Ocalan left Syria, this agreement was signed 11 days later. With this agreement, Syria ceded its will to the Turkish state and its supporters and began to hostile the Kurdish people and the Kurdistan Liberation Movement.

Leader Ocalan assesses why Syria signed the Adana Agreement, saying: “The Arab leadership in Syria has never wanted to create any form of relationship with the PKK leadership beyond tactical form. Hafez Assad’s leadership also formed a hegemonic struggle between the United States and the Soviet Union. He was unable to maintain a tactical relationship at a critical stage resulting from the collapse of the Soviet Union. He was seeking though the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) of creating a balance with Turkey and had tried to address the continuing threats of the Turkish Republic since 1958 and its approach to Israel. In this regard, it gave way to an appropriate tool for a long-term tactical relationship with the Kurdistan Workers’ Party. It is not desirable to see that this relationship can give way to a second Kurdish policy.

The Turkish Governments’ endeavours could not be influential. This short reminder shows that Israel was the main force that took me out of Syria. Of course, American and Turkish military pressure also played a role. We must not forget that Israel concluded secret agreements with Turkey before now in the 1950s (1950). The anti-PKK coalition between the United States of America, Israel and the Turkish Republic was completed with another agreement, which was signed for the second time in 1996 in the name of “counter-terrorism”.

What are the Convention’s procedures?

This agreement consisted of five clauses, the first of which was to designate the PKK as a terrorist organization, to close its training camps, to halt its organizational and commercial activities, to prosecute or extradite the leaders of the arrested party and not to allow leader Ocalan to cross into any other country through Syria. In addition to establishing a common telephone line between the parties and joint working groups and mechanisms to implement the specific procedures.

The text of the Convention does not contain any provision that Turkey can penetrate within 5 km of the Syrian border. But it’s being talked about that there’s a secret convention on this.

Turkish Foreign Minister Ismail Jim said in his hearing letter to the then President of the European Commission, Jacques Santer, on October 22, 1998 on Annex IV to the Adana Convention: “The failure of the Syrian side to comply with the necessary measures provided for in the Convention and its security responsibilities gives Turkey the right to take the necessary measures specified in the Convention and to assume its security responsibilities up to a depth of 5 km within Syrian territory.”

Except for this, there is no official document relating to Turkish intervention up to a depth of 5 km in Syrian territory.

Illegal and invalid agreement

The Adana Convention was transformed into a convention between States after the approval of Governments or councils. They are therefore illegal and legally invalid. Although previously signed, it did not officially enter into force until 2001, following the visit of then Turkish Interior Minister Rashto Kazim Yoglin to Syria that year, during which the formal recognition of the Adana Agreement was signed.

Since 1998, Syria has signed several protocols with the Turkish state against the Kurds and the Kurdistan Liberation Movement, including intelligence-sharing and joint operations against the Kurdistan Workers’ Party PKK. With the Adana Convention, Kurds faced oppression and violence. Hundreds of Kurds were arrested, arrested and killed. Syria began pursuing Turkish state methods by committing horrible crimes. The ban on the celebration of Kurdish days and events, along with the ban on the Kurdish language, began. PKK cadres were also arrested in Syria, severely tortured and handed over to the Turkish state. The agreement also resulted in the removal of the Turkish-occupied the Sanjak of Alexandretta since 1939 from Syria’s map.

It was amended 20 days after the uprisings began in Syria

The Turkish state sought to amend the Adana Convention, which some politicians considered to be a point of the Convention and an invalid text.

In October 2010, the Turkish state prepared a new agreement with Syria based on the eradication of the Kurdistan Liberation Movement and the Democratic Union Party PYD. The meeting “High-level Strategic Cooperation”, held in the Syrian city of Latakia, was attended by 12 ministers along with Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmed Dawooglu, Minister of Interior Bashir Atalai, Minister of Defence and Jedi Junol.

The “High Level Strategic Cooperation Council” agreement prepared by AKP government ministers prior to negotiations was signed by the then Syrian Prime Minister, Mohammed Naji Atari and Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan on 21 December 2010 at the Turkish Prime Minister’s Building.

Syria has concluded an 11-item agreement with Turkey. It is valid for three years and became official on April 26, 2011. This agreement entered into force about 20 days after the uprisings began in Syria on March 15, 2011. The Turkish state has created land that enables it to directly attack the Kurdish people’s achievements.

Syria ceded its will to Turkey again

Under this agreement, the two States will take action against organizations that pose a threat to them, in particular the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), prohibit their operations and activities, and agree not to allow the party to remain, supply logistics, training, arms transfers in Syria, cooperate in joint operations, surrender of detainees and intelligence exchanges. Details of the intelligence exchange between Turkey’s intelligence services and intelligence services have been identified. With this Convention against the will of the Syrian peoples, Syria has once again conceded its will to the Turkish state.

“The Parties to the Convention will examine the possibilities for joint operations when necessary.” This phrase was used to legalize the Turkish state’s attacks and occupation. With the July 19th Revolution, the Turkish state sent hundreds of mercenaries, arms and ammunition across its borders to Syria and built dozens of refugee camps on the border.

They couldn’t stop the attacks.

Nevertheless, the Syrian Government had not carried out any security operations, even if it had not submitted a request. This revealed that the Convention was against whoever it was. Again, Kurds and revolution were the target. The aim of this agreement was to overthrow the Government of Damascus, so mercenaries adopted by the Turkish state and NATO began to attack Syria. In the context of leader Ocalan’s third line, the people of North and East Syria launched the revolution, but became the direct target of the mercenaries of the Jabhet al-Nusra and ISIS/Daesh. Despite this agreement and attacks that allowed massacres, they were unable to stop the revolution.

With the occupation of the city of Jarabulus in 2016, this women’s revolution, one of the achievements of Kurds and peoples, was subjected to direct Turkish attacks. The Turkish state sought to do what ISIS failed to do by launching direct attacks. Before each occupation offensive, Turkey spoke of the Adana Agreement. It sought to legitimize such attacks.

Approval of occupation

The Adana Agreement was put back on the agenda prior to the occupation of Ras al-Ain and Tal Abyed at the meeting between Erdogan and Putin on 23 January in Moscow to lay the foundation for the Turkish State Convention and the Damascus Government against the achievements of the revolution. On the 21st anniversary of the international conspiracy, which marks 9 October, Turkey’s occupation attacks with its mercenary began the most heinous crimes for the world’s attention, including the use of chemical weapons. After the attack, the Sochi Agreement between Russia and Turkey was signed on October 22, 2019. Russia indicated that it would facilitate the application of the Adana Agreement. Moreover, the Government of Damascus did not take a single step to follow up on the Turkish occupying power’s attacks on its territory. The Convention was in agreement with the occupation.

After the signing of the Sochi Agreement, talk was made of stopping the attacks, but occupation attacks have increased by the day since. A joint Turkish-Russian patrol is scheduled for two days a week in the designated areas of the border line to a depth of 10 km, while Russia will conduct its patrols daily. However, during the particular bombing of the area, the Turkish state did not patrol.

Following the Sochi and Tehran meetings

Turkish occupying state, which has not only occupied attacks and committed crimes, has begun to threaten a new occupation offensive against North and East Syria. To hide these attacks, the Adana Convention was launched. As in 2019, following Tehran’s tripartite meeting between the Presidents of Erdogan and Putin on July 19 and the bilateral Sochi meeting between Erdogan and Putin on August 5, the Turkish state began to raise the issues of renewing the Adana Agreement and developing relations with the Damascus Government. Attacks on the people of North and East Syria increased after the tripartite and bilateral negotiations. The SDF began responding to these attacks in the context of Self-Defence.

The silence of the Government of Damascus continues despite the direct targeting of its elements. The Government of Damascus has always stated that the Turkish state must leave Syrian territory, but has not taken any step against the Turkish state, which has violated its borders for seven years, particularly after the occupation of Afrin, Ras al-Ain and Tal Abyed but has merely made coy statements against the occupation.

As Syrian Foreign Minister Faisal Mekdad said during a meeting gathered by Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov in Moscow on August 23: “The withdrawal of Turkish troops from Syria is the only way to stabilize the situation. We do not impose any conditions, but the Turkish occupation of Syrian territory must end until relations return “. Are these statements meant to remove the Turkish state from the region with a magic wand? The hostility of the Damascus Government to the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria AANES continues, but taking action with the supreme constitutional leadership to stop the occupation would take away Turkey’s opportunities since 1998.

Lavrov said of Turkey’s preparations for a new occupation offensive: “What is important is not to allow new military operations, and to conclude agreements through diplomatic channels based on political principles that previously existed in relations between Syria and Turkey.” Iran and Russia have sought to improve Turkey-Syria’s deteriorating relations since 2011. The basis for this was laid at the Tehran meeting.

The Syrian Minister for Foreign Affairs; Faisal Mekdad, he was present in Tehran. There were no clear statements as to why he visited Tehran, but there were some allegations that he met with Turkish officials. This was the first step towards bringing the Turkish state closer to the Damascus Government. The joint aspect of the Government of Damascus and the Turkish state is their hostility to AANES, as the forces united against the July 19th Revolution seek to reactivate the Adana Agreement. At this time, people continue to insist on defending themselves against attacks. Well, what has the Damascus Government benefited from this agreement since 2011?

Comprehensive preparations for a new occupation attack

The General Council for the Autonomous Administration of North and East AANES Syria continues its preparations to confront all military and occupation agreements in the context of the state of emergency it declared last 6th June. The people of North and East Syria who are organizing with the perspective of the Revolutionary People’s War say that they will be striking the attackers with their experiences and lessons from the battles of Ras al-Ain, Tal Abyed and Afrin.

As a result, it is clear that the fate of the Damascus Government, which has been in the hands of the dominant powers since 1998 to date, and the fate of the Syrian war will be determined by the continued resistance of the people of the region to build a democratic Syria.

Source: Hawar News