Syrian Kurdish officials condemn Turkish threats near border

QAMISHLI (Kurdistan 24) – The Kurdish-run self-administration in northeastern Syria on Tuesday condemned Turkish threats to invade areas east of the Euphrates River and called for dialogue following the Turkish army's deployment of forces on the border.

“Turkey, through its occupation, seeks to damage stability and security in the region as it has done throughout the crisis in Syria and it continues to threaten Syrian territory east of the Euphrates by deploying military reinforcements to the border near Tal Abyad,” the administration said in a statement.

It continued by stressing "that dialogue is always the safest way to resolve and discuss different points of view, but we will not accept in any way the Turkish threats against our region," and called on the international community to take action.

"There must be pressure on Erdogan not to intervene. We are committed to protecting the achievements of our people in northeast Syria through a genuine democratic administration, an important basis for the national solution in Syria."

Over the last four days, Turkish-backed forces have also shelled villages in northern Aleppo, also known as the Shahba region, where thousands of people from Afrin fled after Turkey took control of Afrin in March 2018.

“The forced displacement of our people from Afrin to the Shahba area is nothing but a continuation of the policy of occupation and the destabilization against a peaceful solution in Syria, as well as an attempt by the AKP [President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s Justice and Development Party] to export its internal crises and problems it experiences inside Turkey,” the statement reads.

Turkish military forces arrived near Tal Abyad on July 10. Shortly after Turkey’s Defense Minister announced on Friday that it had begun taking delivery of the advanced Russian S-400 air defense system, the US warned Ankara against crossing the border to attack.

“Unilateral military action into northeast Syria by any party, particularly as US personnel may be present or in the vicinity, is of grave concern,” Pentagon Spokesperson Commander Sean Robertson told Kurdistan 24. “We would find any such actions unacceptable.”

The Kurdish-backed administration said the ruling AKP party is threatening to invade as a result of losing the re-run of Istanbul's local election in late June.

“[This] drives Erdogan to take revenge against the people and to provide support to the mercenaries and extremist groups in Syria in order to create chaos.”

The statement concluded by charging that the result of Turkey's intervention in the region is clear even in Libya and Iraq, "which explains why the Turkish state wants to divide all the areas it touches and to create and deepen differences. It achieves its agendas in the region at the expense of the people and their ambitions." 

Not long after the administration statement, the US-backed Christian Syriac Military Council (MFS) also called on the US to stop a new Turkish attack, fearing it could affect thousands of Christians who live in Syria’s northeast.

On Wednesday, security forces in the Kurdistan Region confirmed breaking news reports of a daytime shooting by unknown gunmen at an Erbil restaurant that had resulted in the deaths of at least one Turkish consulate staff member and one civilian.

Editing by John J. Catherine 

Additional reporting by Wladimir van Wilgenburg