The General Commander of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), Mazlum Abdi Kobanê, met with the elders of the Tabqa tribes in the northeast of Syria. At the meeting in Hesekê, they exchanged views on the security and economic situation and the latest military developments in the region.

The tribal elders made a number of proposals to Kobanê to improve living conditions in the region and to cope with the effects of the exploding inflation through the "Caesar Act". The US legislation means a massive tightening of sanctions against the Syrian regime and makes it de facto impossible to rebuild the country.

The tribal leaders expressed their support for the democratic and decentralized political model in the autonomous region of northern and eastern Syria and stressed the importance of this social alternative, which "finally guarantees the rights of all communities in Syria and the fair distribution of national resources". They assessed the region's judicial system as "positive" and stressed that the principle of a fully independent judiciary must be preserved in all cases.

Since the liberation of Tabqa by the SDF in May 2017 from the hands of the jihadist militia ISIS, a free coexistence of peoples has taken place in this city, which the elders of the tribes want to hold on to and which they promote with various projects. To protect the population in the self-governing regions and to liberate the areas occupied by Turkey and allied Islamists, the large Arab families also announced that they would continue to support and strengthen the military structures in northern and eastern Syria. Some of the elders proposed a professional army that could be considered for border protection. They also introduced ideas for strengthening the economy of northern and eastern Syria.

CAESAR ACT

The sanctions, which came into force last Wednesday, are the result of legislation known as the "Caesar Syria Civilian Protection Act" - named after the pseudonym of a Syrian military photographer who had smuggled photographs of thousands of torture victims of the Assad regime out of the country. The US sanctions are not only directed against those responsible for torture and regime officials, but against all those who, in whatever form, "support" the government in Damascus. Thus, not only Iran and Russia are in the focus of the sanctions, but also any company that accepts orders for any form of reconstruction. The EU had last extended its sanctions at the end of May, despite calls from several UN agencies regarding the coronavirus pandemic for them to be lifted or at least softened in order to prevent a humanitarian disaster.

The Movement for a Democratic Society (TEV-DEM) describes the Caesar Act as an "economic war", which is also intended to force the peoples of North and East Syria to surrender. To drive the population into hunger is a highly immoral policy, TEV-DEM criticised in advance the sanctions, which would be a heavy blow for the markets: "As a result, the supply of food and medical needs will deteriorate. In this way, the coronavirus pandemic will also spread in society. All this shows that an economic war is being waged against us and our free will."

TEV-DEM

TEV-DEM was founded in 2011 and is an umbrella organisation for trade unions, professional associations and some civil society organisations. TEV-DEM provides practical support and ensures that the voices of the working population are heard in the political and administrative aspects of the confederal system. It is organised on a federal basis from the local to the interregional level.