The international campaign #Riseup4Rojava released a statement on the current developments following the ceasefire agreed upon between the US and Turkey for northern Syria.

The statement reads as follows;

“Since 10pm last night, a ceasefire has been officially in effect in the contested areas of Serêkaniyê and Girê Spî. The Syrian Democratic Forces said regarding the US-Turkish agreement that they would accept a ceasefire in the occupied territories. However, no negotiations have been held on the status of the other front lines and the self-defense forces will not leave their positions.

The ceasefire comes at a time when thousands of civilians are surrounded by Islamist gangs, cut off from water, food and medicine in Serêkaniyê, and resist under the bombing of the Turkish occupation army. Already yesterday, the Democratic Autonomy Administration has called on the international community to open a humanitarian corridor in order to prevent widespread deaths in the besieged city and to recover the injured. But the occupiers continue their inhumane blockade against Serêkaniyê, and civilian convoys set off to free the wounded are being bombed and forced to retreat by the Turkish artillery. The attacks of the jihadist invaders in Serêkaniyê and the surrounding area are continuing to this moment. Turkish airplanes are massacring civilians, and the hospital is also under severe attack. The defense forces have announced that if Turkey continues to violate the ceasefire agreement, they too will switch back to active defense, and will respond to the attacks with extreme force.

There is still no clear stance of the self-government to yesterday’s negotiated agreement. However, it is already clear that it is probably nothing more than another sneaky move by the United States. The call for the invasion forces not to withdraw from the territories they occupy, but to require the defense forces of the peoples of northeastern Syria to leave the field, could not be more cynical, given the crimes of the fascist occupiers. Trump and his cohorts are saying they saved millions of lives with their terrific diplomacy, but we know that the agreement has no other purpose than the legalization of the Turkish occupation. They speak of a 32-kilometer-deep "security zone" from which the women's and people's defense units have to withdraw and where the fascist Turkish occupation army and its Islamist mercenaries should ensure security, order and minority rights. We know only too well what their "security" means; We have not forgotten their brutality and massacres in Afrin, and the whole world is witness to their atrocities against the civilian population of Northeast Syria. Their goal is and remains ethnic cleansing, displacement and the destruction of all revolutionary achievements.

While a ceasefire and a political dialogue are welcome and will never be rejected by the Syrian Democratic Forces, it goes without saying that these plans can never be accepted in this way. If the imperialists and the fascist regime in Ankara really believe that their demands for total surrender will be fulfilled to their liking, they will be bitterly disappointed. The soil of northeastern Syria, which has been liberated with so much blood and sacrifices, is not negotiable.

Therefore, it is important not to allow for any confusion. With or without a ceasefire, the Turkish occupation and massacres continue. The international alliance against the revolution of Rojava has to be confronted with global resistance. Therefore, the order of the day is to intensify the fight and to increase the pressure further.

The fact that the rulers are forced to perform such a cheap theatrical play today is a clear result of the struggle on the ground and the international resistance against the Turkish occupation and the complicity of the imperialist states. But they cannot twist the truths so easily and wipe the blood off their hands. We know the guilty parties of every war crime only too well. We do not forget anything, and we do not forgive.

The resistance continues until the occupation is smashed.

The revolution of Northeast Syria will prevail, fascism will be crushed!”