Rockets hitting Turkish town were not fired by YPG: Tillerson

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region (Kurdistan 24) – US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson informed his Turkish counterpart Mevlut Cavusoglu that rockets which over the weekend hit the Turkish town of Reyhanli and killed a civilian were not fired by the Kurdish forces Washington backs.

Cavusoglu relayed what appeared to be a phone conversation between him and Tillerson over Turkey’s invasion of the Kurdish region of Afrin in northern Syria in a Tuesday interview with the privately-owned Haberturk news network.

“What’s going on, Mevlut? Our friends tell us, they haven’t fired any rocket toward Turkey,” Tillerson told Cavusoglu according to the latter.

At least 10 rockets on Sunday killed one person and wounded 37 others.

“I told [Tillerson], we don’t know where your friends get their intelligence. We take into account what our own friends tell us,” Cavusoglu said.

“You check your sources. And do not speak to us in their [Kurdish YPG] language,” the Turkish FM said, recollecting the conversation.

Authorities blamed the attack on the US-backed Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) that is fighting off the Turkish army and its Syrian proxies engaged in the offensive to capture Afrin.

YPG and its umbrella organization Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) denied in a statement any involvement with the rockets that hit civilian population centers in Turkey.

Kurdish forces accused Ankara of creating excuses to justify its aerial attacks and ground campaign that entered its fourth day, causing dozens of civilian casualties in Afrin and its environs.

Rockets Fired From Inside Turkey: CHP Lawmaker

An opposition lawmaker from the Republican People’s Party (CHP) Mevlut Dudu claimed that the rockets that hit residential areas were fired from inside Turkish territory.

Dudu, a representative of the Hatay Province, where Reyhanli is, explained to the Cumhuriyet newspaper that the rockets that hit the town had a maximum range of 12 kilometers (7 miles).

On its southern edge, the town of Reyhanli is right on the border. However, Turkish army-backed Islamist groups allied with al-Qaeda rule that side of the border, in Syria’s Idlib Province.

“Afrin border is farther than 12 kilometers,” the CHP lawmaker, whose party backed the capture of Afrin, said.

“We received information that the attack was prepared and executed inside the Turkish soil,” Dudu added, after meeting with local officials, including the sub-governor, mayor, police head, and military chief in Reyhanli.

“I believe the government will take necessary measures [investigating] this issue.”

Editing by Karzan Sulaivany