Turkey is preparing for a new attack on northern Syria because it says the region is under the control of the PKK of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party. Local Kurdish leaders dispute Turkey’s claim.
7.6. 14:32 • Updated June 7th. 14:35
SYRIA Qamishl in northern Syria does not immediately remember that Turkey is threatening to attack the region in the coming days. There are a lot of people moving around the city’s bazaar and traffic on the streets is congested quickly.
Many worries also sound quite mundane, albeit awkward.
– Electricity is being cut off all the time and there is sometimes a shortage of water, says the 40-year-old merchant Muhammad Refia, which sells jewelry and bags at Qamishl Bazaar. The deal is pretty poor.
“We are tired of the war”
But Refia also has in mind what will happen if Turkey implements the president Recep Tayiip Erdoğanin several times a statement threatening to attack areas controlled by Syrian Kurdish-led forces.
– May God protect us from war and destruction. We are tired of the war, Refia says.
He has an Arab background and assures that the different population groups in the city, the Kurds, Arabs, Assyrians and other minorities, get along well with each other.
Qamishli, the unofficial capital of the Kurdish region of northern Syria, has survived relatively well the civil war that ravaged the whole of Syria, which began with the 2011 wave of protests.
The Kurds gained control of most of Qamishl at an early stage without much fighting. There are still Syrian military forces in the small area, and the airport is under the control of the Central Government of Damascus.
Turkey’s threats are frightening
Many Kurds are now looking north. A 27-year-old father of two who sells boiled corn cobs in his cart Hamada Ibrahim says people are seriously afraid of Turkey.
– We Kurds sacrificed a lot in the fight against the extremist Isis and many died. Now it feels like we are alone. If Turkey attacks, there is a danger that more people will die.
Some Kurdish leaders have left the city. Visited Finland several times Salih Muslimin we find in the countryside a base for Kurdish troops located in the middle of huge fields.
“Turkey would like to make it clear to me”
A Muslim usually works in Qamishl, but says there are two Turkish drones flying over the city all the time, so it’s safer to stay elsewhere.
“Turkey would like to make it clear to me,” says Salih Muslim, and sounds almost amused.
Muslim, a member of the Syrian Kurdish main party, PYD, once negotiated with Turkey as a representative of the Kurds, but is now a terrorist leader.
According to Turkey, the PYD party in Syria and the Kurdish armed forces are the same as the PKK, which is considered a terrorist organization by Turkey and also by the EU and the United States.
– There are no PKK armed units here. We used to fight the extremist Isis together with the PKK, Muslim says.
However, he said, some Kurds from Turkey remained in the area after fighting Isis because it was not safe for them to return to Turkey.
Northern Syria is intertwined with the NATO process in Finland and Sweden
Turkey does not swallow explanations, and Northern Syria is now intertwined with Finland’s and Sweden’s NATO membership process.
Turkey accuses the countries of supporting both the PKK and the Syrian Kurds, although there is no difference between the groups.
Kurdish leader Muslim says Turkey is trying to get Finland and Sweden to join the anti-Kurdish front and is calling for changes to the law to ban various groups.
– Turkey should not be negotiated, it is a question of NATO membership and we have to wait for NATO to solve the problems.
Will Lavrov allow Turkey to attack?
In northern Syria, the concern about the Turkish invasion is genuine. There is no information about the time, but the Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov will visit Turkey on Wednesday and the situation in Syria will be on the agenda.
Russian troops can be seen patrolling Northeast Syria and Turkey would need some kind of consent from Russia to launch an attack.
In addition to the Russians, there are U.S. soldiers in the Kurdish region who first entered the area as part of the fight against the extremist Isis. The Kurds have been an important ally of the West and U.S. forces are seen as a kind of security against Turkey.
But if Russia allows, Turkey could attack some areas in the western part of the Kurdish region.
– If Turkey attacks, of course, our people will defend themselves, as before, says Salih Muslim.
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