Protest in front of UN HQ in Syria’s Qamishli as outrage grows over Turkish airstrike killing civilians in Kobani
QAMISHLI, Syria (North Press) – Hundreds of protestors gathered in front of the UN building in the northern Syrian city of Qamishli on Wednesday to protest a Turkish drone strike which caused the deaths of at least four women the day prior.
Qamishli residents, as well as members of women’s organizations, demanded that concerned authorities put an end to Turkish violations in the region.
Both the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria and its legislative body the Syrian Democratic Council issued statements on Wednesday condemning the bombardment on the village of Helinj, east of the city of Kobani.
The strike also killed activist Zehra Berkel, a member of Kongra-STAR, a local organization in North and East Syria which promotes women’s rights.
The Syrian Democratic Council’s statement explained the strikes in Kobani as a continuation of Turkish violations of international law in the region, adding that “this crime is a violation of international law and the agreements that Ankara made with Washington and Moscow during Turkey's occupation of [Sere Kaniye] and Tel Abyad at the end of October last year.”
Both parties called on international forces to intervene, with the Autonomous Administration calling on “Russia, America, and the United Nations” to “take a clear and explicit public stance on this unjustified Turkish approach.
The US Department of state gave a passing mention to the attack, with the official State Department spokesperson Morgan Ortagus stating that “we also express profound regret at the civilian casualties in Kobane,” though the tweet did not mention the perpetrators of the attack.
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo also tweeted “sympathies to the families of innocent civilians killed and those wounded in Syria in the terrorist attack in Tel Halaf and the airstrike in Kobane,” without mentioning the perpetrators of either attack.
While no official Turkish channels have claimed responsibility for the attack, Turkish pro-government newspaper Yeni Akit claimed on Wednesday that “four terrorists” which were “neutralized” by Turkish drone strikes were members of the Kurdistan Worker’s Party, a militant and political party in conflict with the Turkish state since the 1980s.
Turkish military-oriented media website Defence Turk also labeled the strike’s victims as “YPG/PKK terrorists.”
Turkey has repeatedly been accused of disregard for civilian lives in its various military operations in northern Syria, with both local and international institutions expressing concern for Turkey’s targeting civilians.
In 2018, Human Rights Watch issued a report documenting multiple civilian casualties caused by Turkish aerial bombardments in northwestern Syria’s Afrin region, and the HRW’s Executive Director Kenneth Roth stated during Turkey’s invasion of Sere Kaniye and Tel Abyad in 2019 that “Turkey and its allies have previously unlawfully killed, arbitrarily arrested, and wrongfully displaced civilians.”
(Reporting by Lucas Chapman; Editing by Hisham Arafat)