Joint press conference by anti-ISIS coalition Combined Joint Task Force - Operation Inherent Resolve (CJTF-OIR) and SDF on November 11th, 2019.
Transcript of translated parts:
Mustafa Bali, head of SDF Press Office: All the components of this region, Kurds, Arabs, Syriac, Assyrian, Muslims, Christians will not forget the [IED attack of] 9th of past month how ISIS criminals who fled to Turkey, where they organized themselves and came back under a new name with the Turkish army and killed or expelled all the Kurds, Arabs, Yazidis and Christians of the region and now want to replace them with the families of those brigands and commit genocide against Kurds, Arabs and Syriacs.
Whatever happens, we are convinced that the gravest danger to the world is ISIS and Jihadism mentality. And we reiterate our promise to our allies and friends around the world that we will continue the fight against the jihadists and ISIS as long as they exist.
Once more I welcome you all here.
We have more than 12,000 ISIS Jihadist captive in our prisons, whom we have caught in the last 5 years, mostly in Baghoz.
We now have some technical issues. First: Those prisoners are not in adequate prisons. We used some buildings that weren’t originally prisons. The protection system at those prisons is not aligned with the system at place in official prisons.
The SDF has always tried to keep war away from these regions, whether through agreeing to the security mechanism to arrange American and Turkish patrols, or [agreements] after the Turkish occupation of the towns of Ras al-Ayn And Tal Abiyadh.
As SDF, our first priority is to prevent war, occupation and ethnic cleansing on our people. Accordingly, we showed leniency in retreating from the border areas towards the interior with Russian and American guarantees that Turkey would not expand its occupation and ethnic cleansing area.
We are a part of this international coalition. This is what we consider ourselves to be. We are still part of this international coalition. We believe we can build upon what has been achieved for a more secure and better future for all humanity. The friendship was not ended to be called renewed.
Kino Gabriel, SDF spokesperson: Today’s conference with the official spokesperson of the International Coalition was for reassuring the cooperation between SDF and International Coalition to counter ISIS and the continued presence of the Coalition forces here to support the political process and the future steps for a political solution for Syria in general. There are of course new events and complications at the moment in light of the presence of different forces in the region, but there is commitment to coordinate the efforts of SDF, US and Coalition forces on one hand, and Russian and Syrian government forces on the other, to protect the region, prevent more military operations and stopping the Turkish occupation. And to keep countering the other danger, which is ISIS.