Syrian dissident Riad Turk, who has been in comparison with Nelson Mandela for spending years in jail for opposing the federal government, died in exile in France on Monday, his daughter mentioned.
“My father died peacefully and glad with what he achieved, surrounded by his two daughters and his grandchildren,” Khuzama Turk informed AFP. He was 93.
The French ambassador to Syria, Brigitte Curmi, wrote on X: “The Syrian Mandela, Riad Turk, has simply left us after a lifetime of battle for a free and democratic Syria.
“Might his aspirations for a dignified life for Syrians proceed to encourage our work.”
Turk fled to France in 2018 after being secretly transported by militants from Syria to neighboring Turkey.
He went into hiding after being launched from his final stint in jail in 2002 for declaring that “the dictator is lifeless” following the loss of life of former President Hafez al-Assad.
In complete, he spent seventeen years in jail, typically with out trial, for numerous crimes below Hafez al-Assad and later his son Bashar, when he turned president of Syria.
Turk was the long-time chief of the dissident Syrian Communist Celebration – Political Bureau, which was banned by Bashar al-Assad and later renamed the Syrian Folks's Democratic Celebration.
He supported the peaceable anti-government protests that broke out in Syria in 2011 and backed the Syrian Nationwide Council, which introduced collectively opponents of Assad because the nation's civil struggle intensified.
“Our revolution is peaceable, standard and rejects sectarianism, and the Syrian individuals are one,” Turk declared in October 2011.
“There will probably be no compromises or negotiations on our objective to overthrow this despotic regime.”
A number of Syrian opposition figures paid tribute to Turk, who described writer Yassin Al-Haj Saleh as “one of the vital eminent fighters for democracy in Syria.”
The battle in Syria has left greater than half one million lifeless and thousands and thousands displaced after spiraling right into a struggle involving international armies, militias and jihadists.
