162 Arab organisations, intellectual and academic figures appeal to the international community to rein in Turkey in northern Syria and denounce potential and expected attacks on the region.

The joint appeal released on Wednesday includes the following:

“Since December 1948, the date of the issuance of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which represented a shift in the collective awareness of humanity of the need to embody the actual commitment to human rights, dignity and freedom, based on a common standard that ought to be attained by all peoples and nations. This declaration has been translated into 500 languages, and humanity has been hoping for the better on all levels, but the successive facts over the years have left individuals and peoples with great disappointment, as rights and freedoms are violated and trampled upon, and the human being has become just a number in the machine of exploitation and violations, most notably in this case is what Syrians are going through especially in light of Turkey’s continuous threats and the international community’s deafening silence, which we would like to see an end to it.

We, journalists, civil and legal activists, intellectuals and writers, movements, parties, organisations, associations, personalities and public opinion makers in the free world, appeal to the international and Arab community, countries and organisations, to put an end to the Turkish threats of targeting the regions of northern and eastern Syria to prevent any possible military operation that will inevitably lead to an unprecedented humanitarian and social catastrophe.

Respect for human rights, cultures and beliefs is not something recognised by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who continues to threaten to invade northern and eastern Syria at a depth of 30 kilometres; that is, to invade an area in which about 2.5 million people live and whose demographics are characterized by ethnic and religious diversity, from the Kurds, Arabs and Syriacs, to the Assyrians, the Chechens, the Armenians and the Turkmen, who are all components of Syria that have long coexisted and lived for many decades in peace, security and harmony.

We, the signatories of this statement, warn against any possible operation aimed at ethnic cleansing against the indigenous population and seeking to undermine the efforts to combat the terrorist organisation ISIS, which will cause a wave of migration and displacement of millions inside and outside Syria, and solidify the state of instability in a broken country that is experiencing conflict and crises.

We affirm that the operation that Ankara intends to launch will turn the region into a hotbed of long-term conflicts in which the risks of terrorism growing and the revival of takfiri organisations that will affect national, regional and international security will be heightened.

Believing in those international and regional efforts to resolve the Syrian crisis by peaceful means through dialogue and based on United Nations Security Council Resolution 2254, we call on international public opinion to curb Turkey’s actions and deter it from launching any attacks on Syria’s territory which would lead to chaos, violence and further fighting.

We renew our firm positions as national organisations, associations, structures and personalities that peaceful dialogue is the basis for constructive and attainable solutions, and we call on Turkey to stop the language of threats and resort to the language of dialogue as a basis for resolving outstanding issues.

We also call on the Turkish public opinion to assume its responsibilities in this aspect.

We, the signatories below, call on the international community to:

– Put pressure on Turkey to prevent any new military operation and to resolve issues through dialogue instead.

– Form a specialised international committee from the League of Arab States, whose objective is to follow up breaches and violations committed by Ankara on the Syria-Turkey border, and to submit its reports to the UN Security Council and the relevant authorities.”