War in #Afrin: Syrian Kurds call for international pressure on #Turkey

Twenty-six days since Turkey started military operations in Afrin, two high-level politicians from the de facto autonomous Democratic Federation of Northern Syria (DFNS) called in Brussels for international attention to the ongoing humanitarian crisis.

Salih Muslim, former co-chairman of the Democratic Union Party (PYD), a leading Kurdish political party in the DFNS, and Riyad Derar, co-president of the Democratic Syrian Council, the legislative organization of the DFNS, said on Wednesday (14 February) that Turkey's air and ground assaults from 20 January onwards have caused 180 deaths and around 500 wounded civilians in the Afrin region, the north-western corner of Syria.

Ankara called this military operation 'Olive Branch' to stress that its attempt is only to drive out the Kurdish YPG militia along the border of Turkey and Syria. The YPG has long been viewed by the Turkish government as an extension of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), which has been committing terrorist attacks in Turkey for more than 30 years.

The DFNS argued that Turkey's goal is actually to "intimidate and emigrate the safe population". Turkish forces have been shelling schools and water stations in Afrin, said Muslim.

On Tuesday, shells nearly hit Afrin hospital, the largest hospital in the region. It was the first time that the centre of Afrin town became an attack target since the offensive began.

Currently, there are around 500,000 people residing in Afrin, including 300,000 refugees displaced from other Syrian regions. Before the Turkish offensive, Afrin was considered one of the rather peaceful lands in Syria, where the multi-sided war have been lasting for seven years.

Muslim and Derar also accused Turkey of recruiting former IS fighters to join the military operation in Afrin and using illegal weapons, such as cluster bombs, on civilians. The situation has been even more critical since all the NGOs are blocked from the Kurdish area, they said.

"Somebody should say stop to Turkey," urged Muslim.

Turkey has not yet received any direct condemnation from Western countries. The US has been treating the YPG militia as a close ally in its campaign against Islamic State. On Monday, the US Department of Defence released a budget blueprint for 2019 including $300 million for the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), composed mainly by the YPG. Nevertheless, James Mattis, the US defence secretary, said on the same day that Turkey has legitimate security concerns along its southern border with Syria.

High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Federica Mogherini said that she was "extremely worried" about the situation in Afrin at the beginning of the Turkish offensive. On 8 February, the European Parliament released a resolution condemning the mass arrest of critics in Turkey of the Afrin operation and expressing the concerns about the humanitarian consequences of the offensive.

As one of the NATO member countries, Turkey was also accused by the DFNS of using NATO weapons during its offensive in Afrin. NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said that NATO recognizes Turkey's legitimate security concerns. He stressed that "no other NATO alliance member has suffered more terrorist attacks than Turkey".

"Turkey briefed the North Atlantic Council a week ago on the military operation in Afrin, and I expect them to continue to brief us," Stoltenberg said on Wednesday after the first day's meetings of NATO defence ministers in Brussels.

On Monday, Muslim was added to the "most wanted terrorists" list by the Turkish government with $1 million arrest bounty. Ankara accused him of having ties with the administrative team of the PKK.

"In the eyes of the government of Turkey, all the Kurdish people are terrorists," Muslim told EU Reporter. He emphasized that the DFNS is working for building a new society that embraces freedom and democracy for all ethnic groups in Northern Syria.

Meanwhile, the two politicians from the DFNS dismissed the allegation that the SDF has been receiving military support from the Assad regime.

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