The Syrian Kurds united with America to halt the spread of ISIS and terrorism throughout the region and the world. In this fight, the Kurdish Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) carried the burden of ground combat with ISIS, losing thousands of their own people. Their efforts prevented Americans soldiers from facing ISIS's brutal fighting and torture tactics. To this day, the Kurdish soldiers contain over 12,000 ISIS fighters in prisons.
To hold off violence, U.S. soldiers reinforced the Kurds along the border between Turkey and Syria. This week, President Trump removed 50-100 U.S. soldiers from the border to fulfill a campaign promise, leaving our Kurdish allies to battle ISIS without U.S. support. At the same time, Turkey's military invaded the border and is indiscriminately slaying the Kurds including innocent families and children. Hundreds of Kurdish people are dying, and the death toll continues to rise. The SDF is weakened, and they are cannot securely detain ISIS prisoners. This creates tremendous peril for American allies and ourselves.
The American people want politicians to honor campaign promises but believe promises should be adjusted to protect our allies and our safety. The U.S. people do not want the absolute fulfillment of a campaign promise that creates greater challenges in the short and long term.
We call upon Congress and the President to:
Strongly and indisputably condemn the Turkish government's invasion and violence against the Kurds,
Swiftly enact powerful sanctions on Turkey that pressure Turkey to withdraw from northern Syria, and
Rapidly re-engage strategic and effective U.S. military intervention to halt violence against our allies and reduce long-lasting damage to U.S. relations and national security.
