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Russian diplomat: UN informed on Turkey’s violations of Syria's sovereignty

Syria sent an official message to the UN secretary-general and UN Security Council president containing evidence of Turkey’s violations
Russian Foreign Ministry’s spokesperson Maria Zakharova  Artyom Geodakyan/TASS
Russian Foreign Ministry’s spokesperson Maria Zakharova
© Artyom Geodakyan/TASS

MOSCOW, January 21. /TASS/. The Syrian government has dispatched an official message to the UN secretary-general and Security Council president an official message containing evidence of Turkey’s crude violations of its sovereignty, the Russian Foreign Ministry’s spokesperson Maria Zakharova said on Thursday.

"On January 17 Syria sent an official message to the UN secretary-general and UN Security Council president containing evidence of Turkey’s gross violations of Syria’s sovereignty," Zakharova said. "Turkish troops have repeatedly intruded into Syria’s border areas."

Zakharova also said Russia is calling on Turkey to stop the "extermination" of civilians in the country’s Kurdish-populated regions.

"We demand an immediate end to extermination of peaceful civilians in the Kurdish-populated regions of the country. A curfew should be lifted and access should be provided to foreign observers," Zakharova said.

"The escalation of violence in southeastern Turkey and the ongoing security operation of the Turkish government in the Kurdish-populated regions of the country are alarming," she said.

"According to Turkey’s Human Rights Fund, 162 civilians died in a period from December 11, 2015 to January 8, 2016," Zakharova went on to say.

"On January 11, 2016, more than a thousand academics from about 90 institutions of high learning from Turkey and foreign countries signed a declaration titled "We Will Not Be Accomplices to This Crime," Zakharova went on to say.

"We cannot but support the calls to the Turkish authorities, contained in this document, to stop the extermination of the local population and the intentional policy of resettling the Kurds; lift a curfew, find and punish people guilty of violating the rights of peaceful civilians and provide access to local and foreign observers," the Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson said.

Zakharova also criticized the Turkish authorities who accused the academics of complicity to terrorism for waging a "war on dissent". Some of those who had signed the declaration were later taken into custody.