In early January 2026, Syrian forces, backed by Turkish and jihadist groups, laid siege to Kurdish enclaves in Northern Syria, cutting off food, water & medicine and carrying out summary executions against civilians and local defenders. The siege culminated in the ethnic-cleansing of over 250,000 ethnic-Kurds from the cities of Sheikh Maqsoud and Ashrafieh, fleeing under heavy shelling and drone attacks.

Now, Kobani – the city that once stood as a symbol of resistance against ISIS in 2014 – faces a new siege  by Syrian forces, backed by the Turkish Government, which has stationed a growing number of tanks and heavy artillery at the Northern border, threatening a ground invasion that would result in the ethnic cleansing of the Kurdish population’s ancestral homeland.

This signifies yet another chapter in Turkey’s support of states and proxies who oppress and persecute indigenous minorities, spanning from the genocidal policies of the Ottoman empire in 1915 to the Artsakh War in 2022 and ethnic cleansing in 2023. Turkey must immediately stop supporting and financially aiding the killing and ethnic cleansing of minorities abroad, and it is imperative that the international community take measures to prevent such aggressive foreign policy.

The Armenian National Committee of Australia (ANC-AU) reaffirms its steadfast support for the self-determination and sovereignty of all peoples, including the Kurdish people.

The Armenian-Australian community stands with the Federation of Democratic Kurdish Society Australia (FDKSA) in calling on the Australian Government to: condemn all military operations targeting Kurds; demand the immediate withdrawal of Turkish forces (and their proxies) from the Syrian border; and provide humanitarian aid to those displaced by the conflict.