Mr. President,

I thank Special Envoy Pedersen and Director Ghelani for their briefings.

The international community needs to step up efforts in support for a political solution in Syria.

The Syrian crisis should not be a frozen conflict.

Treating it as one would be a great injustice not only to regional stability but also to the millions of Syrian refugees scattered all over the world, especially in neighboring countries.

We hope that the 9th round of the Constitutional Committee takes place as soon as possible under UN facilitation.

The Syrian opposition has displayed a constructive attitude since the very beginning.

The regime should reciprocate this approach and abandon its intransigency and actively engage in the political track for the resolution of the conflict.

For the people of Syria to have a future, there needs to be a Syrian-led political solution.

Türkiye will never give up on our Syrian brothers and sisters, and will continue to support them in their pursuit for their fundamental rights and freedoms.

Mr. President,

Let me repeat once again in this Chamber:

The PKK/YPG terrorist organization poses a grave threat not only to the territorial integrity of Syria, but also to my country’s national security.

The agreements of October 2019 which we concluded with the United States and the Russian Federation respectively, have not been fully implemented so far.

Apart from Tal Rifaat and Manbij, the area in 30 kilometers depth off of our border has not been cleared from terrorist elements.

The PKK/YPG and the so-called "SDF" are misguidedly supported by some with the claim that they are fighting DAESH.

In reality, however, PKK/YPG/”SDF” continues to attack Syrian civilians and target Türkiye’s borders with the very weapons provided to them to fight DAESH.

The so-called "SDF" carries out, on average, 100 terrorist attacks every month in northern Syria.

The terrorist organization does not even bother to cover up its crimes, but rather openly claims responsibility for these attacks, publishing them on its social media accounts.

To those who still support this terrorist organization or express “concern” with regard to Türkiye’s determination to eliminate this terrorist/separatist threat, I ask: how long will you continue to ignore these crimes?

Mr President,

Turkish counter terrorism operations are carried out to combat all terrorist organizations that threaten our national security, in exercise of the inherent right of self-defense, as reflected in Article 51 of the UN Charter, and in accordance with the UN Security Council resolutions on the fight against terrorism.

We are determined to continue this fight.

As has been the case in the past, Türkiye is taking all measures and steps towards that objective and to prevent harm to Syrian civilians in the region.

Mr President,

Since the adoption of Resolution 2642 last July, there have been monthly cross line deliveries to the northwest.

Yet we continue to stress that security conditions must be improved so as to allow for more regular and expanded cross-line shipments to Idlib.

As was the case in the month of September, there are reports of artillery fire by the regime forces before the most recent cross line delivery this past weekend.

It is hypocritical to call for more cross-line access to the local populations and at the same time conduct attacks endangering the delivery of that assistance.

Mr. President,

It is not possible to regularize cross-line access only with the facilitation of Türkiye, the Syrian Interim Government and local actors.

It is essential that the regime and its supporters adhere to the commitments they made for the security conditions on the ground within the framework of the ceasefire arrangement of February 5, 2020.

We would like to take this opportunity to also reiterate the long-standing request of the Syrian Interim Government for Ra’s Al-Ayn and Tel Abiad region to benefit from UN humanitarian assistance.

We are aware of the past humanitarian access planning of the UN in January and May of this year, neither of which could be implemented due to the negative attitude of the regime and its supporters.

Now after three years, UNICEF and WHO are finally expected to deliver medicines for leishmaniasis disease and cholera through cross-line assistance to this region very soon.

In Syria, waterborne diseases are most common in the Ra’s Al-Ayn-Tel Abyad region due to the blocking by the regime and PKK/YPG of electricity supply to this area.

There has been no electricity transmission to Ra’s Al-Ayn and Tel Abyad region from the south since February of this year.

The humanitarian system cannot simply ignore this fact when addressing the issue of electricity in Syria.

Mr President,

Let me once again set the record straight on Allouk water station.

Water can only be supplied from Allouk to the south, if sufficient amount and voltage of electricity is supplied to Allouk from Derbasiye transformer, which is under the control of the terrorist organization PKK/YPG.

For instance, Allouk station had not received electricity for weeks since the third week of August until 19 October. This is one of the reasons for the rise of the cholera epidemic in the region.

Currently, 18 of the 34 wells as well as 3 of the 12 water pumps are active in the station and water is supplied to the south from Alouk. There is no access problem at the station either. Maintenance and repair teams from the south have regular access to Allouk.

We expect similar access to be provided for other infrastructure in the region, especially Derbasiye transformer and Ein El-Bayda water station.

Mr President,

We encourage an appropriate review of the UN's humanitarian aid to Syria in accordance with needs.

In this regard, we support recovery and resilience projects.

It is crucial that all regions in Syria benefit fairly from early recovery and resilience projects, based on the needs assessment to be made by the UN.

We cannot afford to turn our backs on those furthest behind.

We expect the detailed list of needs prepared by the Syrian Interim Government and timely submitted to the UN to be duly integrated in early recovery and resilience planning of the Organization.

Mr President,

The Syrian people are, once again, caught between violence, starvation, and an unforgiving winter.

According to the Secretary General’s report, six million people are in urgent need of winter assistance in Syria this year, indicating an increase of more than 30 percent compared to last year.

I wish to stress once again:

The resolutions adopted by the Security Council since 2014 have affirmed the territorial integrity, sovereignty and political unity of Syria.

They established control, oversight, transparency and accountability over UN aid; and allowed the Security Council to monitor this process.

Mr. President,

We cannot change the events of the past, but we can change the course of the coming winter.

To save the lives of Syrian people who have no other option, but to rely on the United Nations to get them through this winter.

We urge this Council to continue to do what is right, and to preserve the indispensable UN cross border mechanism beyond January 2023 as foreseen in Resolution 2642.

Thank you.