AANES: Turkey’s accusations are a game without any logic
On Monday, the Office of External Affairs of the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES) released a statement on Turkey’s accusations of being allegedly responsible for Sunday’s attack in Istanbul. On Sunday, a terrible bomb attack took place in Istanbul’s crowded İstiklal Caddesi, the city’s most famous shopping street, which killed 6 people and further injured 81. The Turkish authorities immediately imposed a news blackout after the attack. Pictures of a woman, who was believed to have been responsible for the attack quickly circulated on the Internet. On Monday, the Turkish authorities said they had captured the woman who allegedly perpetrated the attack.
However, the published pictures displayed a frightened woman who also carried signs of violence on her body. According to the Turkish authorities, she reportedly is a Syrian citizen and her name is Ahlam Al-Bashir. She reportedly told the Turkish authorities that she had carried out the attack in the name of the ‚PKK/PYD/YPG‘, after receiving orders from Kobane in northern Syria. She was allegedly trained as a secret service agent and reached Turkey through Afrin and Idlib. The AANES’ Foreign Office issued a public press statement on these allegations and disclosures.
“Turkey wants to deceive the world – We condemn the attack in İstanbul”
The statement expounded that Turkey seeks to manipulate the public opinion as part of it’s intelligence service’s usual practice. Following the attack in İstanbul, Turkey instantly accused the Autonomous Administration and its military forces. The perpetration of the attack in İstanbul as well as the killing of innocent civilians was further condemned. However, these accusations are part of Turkey’s policy and agenda, which seeks to create a pretext and a fabricated justification to attack and destabilize the region further.Turkey keeps creating scenarios and blatant lies that have nothing to do with the truth.
“None of our institutions are involved in the attack – The main suspect in the attack indeed is Turkey”
The Office of External Affairs further assured that no AANES institution was involved in the attack and that the Turkish allegations were solely ‘a game devoid of any logic’. The main suspect therefore is the Turkish government, which seeks to distort all facts and the truth by enunciating false accusations. In addition, it was confirmed that the accused suspect, Ms. Ahlam Al-Bashir had no identification data in AANES.
“We demand an independent commission of inquiry – they want to portray us as a threat to Turkey“
Lastly, the issued statement demanded an independent investigation of the attack by an independent and international commission of inquiry, which should then present the results to the Turkish State and the international community. The statement further made clear that it rejected Turkey’s manipulative games and urged people not to believe Turkey’s diversionary tactics of framing the region of northern Syria as a threat to Turkey. Turkey indeed needs to reconsider its policies as the Turkish government supports and negotiates with terrorists and mercenaries.
Meanwhile, Mazloum Abdi, the supreme commander of the SDF, to which the YPG belongs, also released a statement, in which he condemned the attack and expressed his condolences to the Turkish people and families of the victims. He eventually denied all the allegations and said that the SDF forces had nothing to do with the attack.
