HATAY, Turkey
Syrian Turkmen have been blacklisted by the Assad regime on account of their 'Turkish' identity for years, said Mahmoud Cildir, a member of Syrian Turkmen [National] Bloc, in an interview with AA on Thursday.
Cildir said Turkmen villages have now become target of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) and have even occupied the Turkmen populated town of Cobanbey last week.
Cildir said the Turkmen Bayir-Bucak region of Latakia in Syria is under threat from both the Assad regime and ISIL.
"Turkmen have been fighting firstly against the Assad regime, then against the Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD) and now against ISIL for nearly one year. People living in these areas are killed or forced to migrate."
Turkmen in Hajar al-Aswad region in Syria have been besieged by regime forces, Cildir stressed. "People are dying of hunger there. Attacks of the regime and Hezbollah have increased in Homs in recent times."
Cildir said Turkmen are vulnerable and desperate in many regions of Syria and added, "Turkish government and people provide us with humanitarian aid, on which we struggle to survive''.
"Syrian Turkmen need immediate support so that inheritance of Seljuk and Ottoman [empires], can continue," he also added.
englishnews@aa.com.tr
