Başbuğ Hasan Çakar has issued a statement following the collapse of the Ba'athist Syrian government of Bashar al-Assad. Assad's government had been fighting a over a decade-long civil war with opposition forces and various militant groups since 2011, which begun after he used heavy-handed violence against anti-government protests inspired by the Arab Spring. Bashar al-Assad had ruled Syria since 2000, having been the successor to his father Hafez, and the Ba'ath government has been accused of severe human rights abuses. The Syrian government was supported in the war by Russia, Iran and the armed group Hezbollah. In late November, rebel forces led by the controversial group Tahrir al-Sham launched a surprise offensive which initially captured Syria's second city Aleppo and eventually progressed into a nationwide defeat of Assad's forces in a matter of days.
Since the collapse of the regime, Israel has launched an incursion to establish a "buffer zone" for the occupied Golan Heights region (which is also Syrian territory, captured by Israel during the height of the Arab-Israeli wars). The statement additionally addresses the Israeli incursion.
The statement reads as follows:
"We welcome the news of the fall of evil regime of Bashar al-Assad and congratulate the Syrian people on their victory. The tyrant of Syria oversaw the death of thousands and the exile of millions of his people, motivated by the desire to maintain his own personal power and wealth, primitive sectarianism and the dystopian ideology of Ba'athism. One only needs to look at the terrible images coming from the liberated Sednaya death camp for confirmation. His regime brought misery not just to his own people, but to the neighbouring countries and even Europe as well as the war spread. He was supported in his repression by Russia and Iran as well as the armed group 'Hezbollah', who played their role in the massacre of the people of Syria. Hopefully his regime's collapse will be a lesson to these supporters, especially Russia who continues its own massacre of the people of Ukraine.
Hasanistan believed like much of the world that only a political process would have solved the war. One where he would step aside and allow the people of Syria to decide their future. However, Bashar al-Assad refused any compromise until the last day of his regime. Now, the people of Syria will hopefully have the power to finally decide their own future. While their future is their own decision, we hope a political process is finally implemented based upon UN Security Council Resolution 2254. This means a new constitution which guarantees rights for all Syria's people, whether Arabs, Sunnis, Shias, Alawites, Kurds, Turkmen, Christians or whoever else, and a voice for the common people in governance. We support the international community in any effort to rebuild Syria and believe that all refugees must be supported to return as soon as possible. It is of special importance for Hasanistan that our displaced Turkmen brethren are allowed to return to the lands from where Bashar expelled them.
Following the collapse of the regime of Bashar al-Assad and the victory of the opposition, there have also been reports of Israel breaking the 1974 ceasefire agreement and launching incursions into Syria. We condemn these actions by the Israeli state and call upon them to respect the territorial integrity of Syria."
-Başbuğ Hasan Çakar
