Paris... Death takes the life of Syrian oppositionist Riyadh al-Turk

ARK News… Syrian opposition figure Riyadh al-Turk, on Monday, January 1, 2024, died in Paris, France, after a struggle with illness.

Al-Turk, who was nicknamed “Syria’s Mandela,” is one of the most ardent opponents of the Assad regime. He spent nearly “18 years” of his life in the Syrian regime’s prisons and detention centers, during the era of Hafez al-Assad and two years during the era of his son.

In an interview with Al-Quds Al-Arabi newspaper in 2018, Riyadh Al-Turk said, “The Kurdish issue in Syria, in my personal opinion, complements the Syrian issue and vice versa. When the Syrians revolted for their dignity and freedom, the Syrian Kurds were among them, foremost among them.”

A brief about his life:

Riyadh Al-Turk was born in 1930 in the city of Homs. He obtained a law degree in 1958 from the Faculty of Law at the University of Damascus.

He served as Secretary-General of the "Syrian Communist Party - Political Bureau", which was banned by the Syrian regime since the 1970s, before its name was changed to the "Syrian Democratic People's Party" at the beginning of Bashar al-Assad's rise to power.

He was one of the most prominent signatories to the "Damascus Declaration" issued in 2005, at the initiative of Syrian opposition groups to demand democratic change in Syria.

With the start of the Syrian revolution in 2011, he declared his full support for it, his support for the peaceful movement opposing the Assad regime, and his standing alongside the protesters.

One of the founders of the Syrian National Council, which he headed from 2012 to 2014. He was also a member of the Syrian National Transitional Council, which was established in 2012.

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