Syria: Christians in the northeast again under Turkish threat

In its most recent military operation in northern Syria at the end of May 2022, Turkish forces targeted an Assyrian Christian village, Tel Tawil (just 10 kilometers west of Tel Tamr), severely damaging a church. As reported by Asia News on 1 June 2022, the same church had been targeted by Islamic State group forces In 2015, when 250 Christians from villages near the Khabur River had also been abducted. The Asia News report states:

In the past, Turkey carried out cross-border operations against the Kurds, at least this is the official motivation, causing death and destruction among Christian communities in Syria and Iraq. The latest action, Operation Claw Lock, began in April, resulting in the destruction of houses and churches as well as the death of an Assyrian, a 26-year-old man named Zaya. … For local Christian leaders such as Syriac Orthodox Archbishop of Jazira and Euphrates, Mar Maurice Amseeh, there is no doubt about Turkey’s ambitions: they are expansion-oriented and aim to empty the area of ??its Christian population. 

World Watch Research analyst Henriette Kats comments: “According to international humanitarian law, religious buildings must be protected as civilian objects, as long as they have not been used for military operations. The Turkish forces and their allies appear not to respect this principle and may therefore have committed war crimes. For the Christian community, this is another signal that they are not welcome in this area. While more than 12,000 people used to live in the area around Tel Tamr, spread over 32 villages, today only about a thousand remain. It is therefore very appropriate that the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) highlighted Turkey’s increasing contribution to religious and ethnic oppression in northern Syria in a virtual hearing on 10 May 2022. The hearing stated that Turkey’s direct occupation and military operations in that area have devastated at-risk religious minority communities such as the Christian-majority town of Tel Tamr.”

Henriette Kats continues: “As reported by Al-Jazeera on 24 May 2022, President Erdogan announced plans of a new military operation in Syria to link up the areas already under Turkish control in Syria’s northern border region. However, it is clear that the Turkish president aims to control the entire border region, including the area in north-eastern Syria where a large Christian community once lived. Many Christians have already left this area in recent years and with the threat of another Turkish invasion, they are unlikely to return home in the near future. This is also a very threatening situation for the remaining Christians in that area.”