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Erdogan Orders Establishment of Campus for Turkish University in Northern Syria

A view of the Syrian town of Kobani is pictured from the Turkish border town of Suruc, in Sanliurfa province, Turkey, October 31, 2019. (Reuters)
A view of the Syrian town of Kobani is pictured from the Turkish border town of Suruc, in Sanliurfa province, Turkey, October 31, 2019. (Reuters)
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Erdogan Orders Establishment of Campus for Turkish University in Northern Syria

A view of the Syrian town of Kobani is pictured from the Turkish border town of Suruc, in Sanliurfa province, Turkey, October 31, 2019. (Reuters)
A view of the Syrian town of Kobani is pictured from the Turkish border town of Suruc, in Sanliurfa province, Turkey, October 31, 2019. (Reuters)

Turkey decided to establish a medical school and a higher institute for health sciences in al-Rai town, located within the eastern Euphrates area in the Aleppo countryside, northern Syria.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan signed the decree, which was published in the Official Gazette on Saturday.

The decision stated that a the Cobanbey Faculty of Medicine and Cobanbey Vocational High School of Health Services would be part of campuses of the Turkish University of Health Sciences in Istanbul.

Saturday’s decree is a precedent in the region and interpreted as an official declaration of Turkey’s hegemony over some parts of Syria.

In August 2016, the Turkish military seized 2,055 square kilometers of Syrian territories through Operation Euphrates Shield. It forces are still deployed there alongside pro-Ankara Syrian factions.

In 2018, the military launched Operation Olive Branch in Afrin that targeted areas controlled by the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF). It carried out a third operation in the area east of Euphrates in October 2019.

Since then, it has worked on consolidating these areas’ subordination to Turkish border states of Hatay, Sanliurfa and Gaziantep.

Turkish authorities opened branches of the National Postal Authority with transactions using the Turkish lira. They also opened schools and added the Turkish language to the curriculum under the pretext of helping Syrians in areas they run.

In January, the Turkish National Postal Authority opened a branch in Tal Abyad city. The inauguration ceremony was held in the presence of Governor of Sanliurfa Abdullah Erin, the director of the Postal Authority and Head of Tal Abyad’s local council Wael Hamdo.

The governor also laid the foundation stone for the new obstetrics and gynecology hospital, which will be established in Tal Abyad.

Turkey continues to provide support in various fields, including transportation, infrastructure, education, security and health to Tal Abyad, which was seized from the SDF.

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Cyprus Can Help Rid Syria of Chemical Weapons, Search for its Missing, Says Top Diplomat

FILE PHOTO: A UN chemical weapons expert, wearing a gas mask, holds a plastic bag containing samples from one of the sites of an alleged chemical weapons attack in the Ain Tarma neighborhood of Damascus August 29, 2013. REUTERS/Mohamed Abdullah
FILE PHOTO: A UN chemical weapons expert, wearing a gas mask, holds a plastic bag containing samples from one of the sites of an alleged chemical weapons attack in the Ain Tarma neighborhood of Damascus August 29, 2013. REUTERS/Mohamed Abdullah
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Cyprus Can Help Rid Syria of Chemical Weapons, Search for its Missing, Says Top Diplomat

FILE PHOTO: A UN chemical weapons expert, wearing a gas mask, holds a plastic bag containing samples from one of the sites of an alleged chemical weapons attack in the Ain Tarma neighborhood of Damascus August 29, 2013. REUTERS/Mohamed Abdullah
FILE PHOTO: A UN chemical weapons expert, wearing a gas mask, holds a plastic bag containing samples from one of the sites of an alleged chemical weapons attack in the Ain Tarma neighborhood of Damascus August 29, 2013. REUTERS/Mohamed Abdullah

Cyprus stands ready to help eliminate Syria’s remaining chemical weapons stockpiles and to support a search for people whose fate remains unknown after more than a decade of war, the top Cypriot diplomat said Saturday.

Foreign Minister Constantinos Kombos said Cyprus’ offer is grounded on its own past experience both with helping rid Syria of chemical weapons 11 years ago and its own ongoing, decades-old search for hundreds of people who disappeared amid fighting between Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriots in the 1960s and a 1974 Turkish invasion, The AP reported.

Cyprus in 2013 hosted the support base of a mission jointly run by the United Nations and the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) to remove and dispose of Syria's chemical weapons.

“As a neighboring country located just 65 miles from Syria, Cyprus has a vested interest in Syria’s future. Developments there will directly impact Cyprus, particularly in terms of potential new migratory flows and the risks of terrorism and extremism,” Kombos told The AP in written replies to questions.

Kombos said there are “profound concerns” among his counterparts across the region over Syria’s future security, especially regarding a possible resurgence of extremist groups like ISIS in a fragmented and polarized society.

“This is particularly critical in light of potential social and demographic engineering disguised as “security” arrangements, which could further destabilize the country,” Kombos said.

The diplomat also pointed to the recent proliferation of narcotics production like the stimulant Captagon that is interconnected with smuggling networks involved in people and arms trafficking.

Kombos said ongoing attacks against Syria’s Kurds must stop immediately, given the role that Kurdish forces have played in combating extremist forces like the ISIS group in the past decade.

Saleh Muslim, a member of the Kurdish Presidential Council, said in an interview that the Kurds primarily seek “equality” enshrined in rights accorded to all in any democracy.

He said a future form of governance could accord autonomy to the Kurds under some kind of federal structure.

“But the important thing is to have democratic rights for all the Syrians and including the Kurdish people,” he said.

Muslim warned that the Kurdish-majority city of Kobani, near Syria’s border with Türkiye, is in “very big danger” of falling into the hands of Turkish-backed forces, and accused Türkiye of trying to occupy it.

Kombos said the international community needs to ensure that the influence Türkiye is trying to exert in Syria is “not going to create an even worse situation than there already is.”

“Whatever the future landscape in Syria, it will have a direct and far-reaching impact on the region, the European Union and the broader international community,” Kombos said.