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Canada suspends new arms sales to Turkey over Syrian Kurdistan incursion

Canada suspends new arms sales to Turkey over Syrian Kurdistan incursion
Canada suspends new arms sales to Turkey over Syrian Kurdistan incursion

2019-10-16 00:00:00 - Source: Iraq News

A Turkish soldier stands on top of an armoured personnel carrier (APC) near the Turkish-Syrian border in Sanliurfa province, Turkey, October 11, 2019. Photo: Reuters

OTTAWA,— Canada on Tuesday announced it had temporarily suspended “new export permits” to Turkey, particularly of military equipment, in response to Ankara’s offensive into Syrian Kurdistan (Rojava) in northern Syria.

“Canada firmly condemns Turkey’s military incursion into Syria,” Global Affairs Canada, the foreign ministry, said in statement.

“This unilateral action risks undermining the stability of an already-fragile region, exacerbating the humanitarian situation and rolling back progress achieved by the Global Coalition Against Daesh (Islamic State), of which Turkey is a member.”

The suspended export permits cover “controlled property,” essentially military equipment, according to a list provided by the ministry.

Ottawa’s move follows similar measures by several European countries.

Canada’s arms sales to Turkey totaled nearly CAD$116 million (US$87 million) in 2018, according to Global Affairs.

Turkey was threatening to invade the Kurdish region in northeastern Syria after launching a military assault on the Kurds in Syrian Kurdistan last week, leaving more than 300 dead on both sides and sending 160,000 refugees fleeing.

The Kurdish Democratic Union Party PYD and its powerful military wing YPG/YPJ, considered the most effective fighting force against IS in Syria and U.S. has provided them with arms. The YPG, which is the backbone of the Syrian Democratic Forces SDF forces, has seized swathes of Syria from Islamic State.

The Kurdish forces expelled the Islamic State from its last patch of territory in the eastern Syrian village of Baghouz in March 2019.

Syria’s Kurds have detained thousands of local and foreign fighters suspected of fighting for Islamic State, as well as thousands of related women and children.

11,000 Kurdish male and female fighters had been killed in five years of war to eliminate the Islamic State “caliphate” that once covered an area the size of Great Britain in Syria and Iraq.

Copyright © 2019, respective author or news agency, Ekurd.net | AFP

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