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Syrian Kurds welcome KRG aid to civilians fleeing Turkish military incursion

Syrian Kurds welcome KRG aid to civilians fleeing Turkish military incursion
Syrian Kurds welcome KRG aid to civilians fleeing Turkish military incursion

2019-10-17 00:00:00 - Source: kurdistan 24

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – In a statement on Wednesday, Syrian Kurdish officials extended their gratitude to the neighboring Kurdistan Region for receiving refugees displaced by the current crisis in northern Syria caused by a Turkish military incursion begun one week earlier.

“We thank the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) for providing humanitarian and relief support to our people who were forced to leave as a result of the heavy Turkish bombardment,” said the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Council (SDC), the political wing of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF).

According to the KRG’s Joint Coordination Centre (JCC), 930 people have so far arrived in the Kurdistan Region, already hosting close to a million internally displaced persons and Syrian refugees. The JCC said it was preparing for a large influx of new arrivals as Turkish attacks on northern towns in Syria continued.

Read More: First wave of Syrian refugees fleeing to Kurdistan Region reaches nearly 1000

The SDC reiterated condemnations of the Turkish military “invasion” as an “unprovoked attack” on their territories. Ankara’s long-threatened campaign, which has been largely denounced internationally, began eight days ago with the purported aim of confronting the Kurdish military leadership of the SDF, the Peoples’ Protection Units (YPG), whom Ankara considers terrorists for alleged connections with the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).

Ankara also says it seeks to settle close to 3.5 million Syrian refugees, many from other parts of the country, in a so-called “safe zone” it seeks to establish south of its border. The depth of the region Turkey seeks is unclear since it has increased it on multiple occasions, confident of the strength of its bargaining chips.

In its military push into the areas—similar to previous operations—Ankara is employing Syrian Islamist militant groups whom the UN has said may have committed war crimes after gruesome details emerged of how one such group’s members killed a female Kurdish politician from the region. A recent video also appeared to show militants summarily executing a number of SDF detainees.

In Wednesday's statement, the Autonomous Administration—as it is officially known—"reaffirms that what Turkey is doing amounts to genocide.”

Abandoned by the US following the decision of President Donald Trump to withdraw American forces from the region, the SDF sought a deal with the Syrian government of Bashar al-Assad, brokered by Moscow. Damascus has deployed national army troops to the north to confront the Turkish military and the militias it backs.

Editing by John J. Catherine





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