AANES: Turkey threatens to legitimize its attacks on our people

The Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES) issued a statement after Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said Turkey would target all infrastructure and facilities of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) and the People’s Defense Units (YPG) in Iraq and Syria. AANES said that the Turkish threats and the targeting of their regions have an aspect of revenge after the failure of the Turkish project and its agenda in Syria.

In its statement, the Autonomous Administration says the Turkish state insists on targeting its region again. The statement continues: “In order to legitimize its attacks against our people, Turkey talks about these regions and institutions as legitimate targets of the Turkish project. This threatening language came after our people foiled the dirty plans of Turkey and the Syrian regime in Deir Ezzor.”

Turkey threatens to mislead public opinion

Stressing that the threats were made in the aftermath of the bombing in Ankara and that their region is targeted every time there is a problem against Turkey, AANES underlines that the Turkish state has forgotten its excessive military deployments on the border with Syria and its daily crimes of murder, torture and beatings against young people traveling to Europe through Turkey.

AANES continues: “The Turkish state’s narrative linking the recent attack in Ankara to our regions is a big deviation from Turkey’s domestic public opinion and ignores its internal issues, including the Kurdish question. This threat ignores the current reality in Turkey and seeks to mislead Turkish public opinion. We strongly reject and condemn these Turkish threats and the language of its officials.”

Acts of hostility and war crimes

Concluding its statement, AANES affirmed some issues: “These threats and the targeting of our territories also have a revenge aspect and come after the failure of the Turkish state project in Syria. These threats against our territories negatively affect the activities and efforts of our people and the international coalition against ISIS and its cells. No one benefits from these threats and creating unrest is a form of destabilization, which is the main goal of the Turkish state. Targeting service buildings will have a negative impact on general and human welfare, which is a hostile act and falls under the category of war crimes. All parties have a role to play in Syria, they should take a serious stance and end these threats. In addition to the problems in Syria, the Turkish state is also targeting the way of life of our people in northern and eastern Syria and increasing human suffering. This poses major problems.”

AANES urges the international community, the international coalition, the United Nations, international legal and humanitarian organizations and Russia to take a serious stance and confront the Turkish state.