Syrian political parties and movements demanded the authorities of the Kurdistan region of Iraq to reopen the Semalka border crossing and reverse the decision to close it, which is considered as one of the most vital ports to the regions of North and East of Syria as a result of the unjust siege on the Autonomous Administration areas in North and East of Syria.
The signatory parties and movements to the statement stated that “the closure of this crossing in these hard and difficult circumstances increases the human suffering of the Syrians” at a time when the regions of North and East of Syria are suffering from the consequences of the outbreak of the Corona pandemic, and considered that “the region is still subjected to terrorist threats and military, security and economic pressures from several regional sides that are hostile to the aspirations of the Syrian people for dignity and freedom”.
The statement members added that the crossing was primarily used for humanitarian purposes for “cancer patients and incurable conditions such as burns and other chronic diseases”, and international organizations concerned with humanitarian and relief affairs used it to provide their services to the residents of the region, in addition to the crossing was the only link among the residents of northeastern Syria and their relatives in the refugee camps in the Kurdistan region of Iraq, which is the only port for the supply of some of the basic food needs of the daily life for the region of northeaster Syria.
In addition to calling on the authorities of the Kurdistan region of Iraq to open the crossing, the statement members called for decreasing the bureaucratic procedures that made the citizens of North and East of Syria exhausted, and the parties praised the positive attitudes of the Kurdistan Regional Government and its parliament towards the human suffering in Syria.
The members concluded the statement by calling on the Kurdistan Regional Government of Iraq to review its recent decisions in order to serve the principles of good neighborliness and work to “support the will of the people of North and East of Syria for a free and dignified life”.
The regions of northern and eastern Syria take care of hundreds of thousands of displaced Syrians and dozens from displacement camps, in addition to the region’s population of five million, and these regions suffer from an unjust siege as a result of the closure of the border crossings, especially the Al-Yarubiyah border crossing, which was closed in January 2021 after Russia objected to the extension decision in the UN Security Council.
• Parties and movements that signed the statement are:
– The National Coordination Body – The Movement of Democratic Change
– The Reform Movement – Syria
– The Syrian Kurdish Democratic Party
– The Syrian Reform Movement
– The Revolutionary Left Current in Syria
– The Arab National Body
– The Kurdistan Renewal Movement-Syria
– The Roj Kurdish Democratic Party in Syria
– The Kurdistan Democratic Change Party
– The Conservative Party
– The Syriac Union Party
– Kurdistan Democratic Party( al-Parti) – Syria
– The Syrian Kurdish Democratic Accord Party
– The Future Syria Party
– The Green Democratic Party
– The Kurdistan Future Movement
