YPG accuses Turkish government of plotting Istanbul explosion
QAMISHLI, Syria (North Press) – The People Protection Units (YPG), affiliated with the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), accused Monday the Turkish government of plotting the explosion in Istanbul city which killed six people and injured 80 others.
In a statement published on the SDF website, as soon as the explosion took place, the ruling Justice and Development Party and the Nationalist Movement Party “immediately pointed fingers at our forces and started spinning a fictional and unrealistic scenario to prove their false claim.”
The statement rejected the Turkish claims, and categorically denied “any link to Ahlam al-Bashir, the perpetrator of the terrorist attack.”
Turkish statements claim that the perpetrator entered the Turkish territory coming from the northern Syrian city of Afrin – which has been under the control of Turkey and its allied Syrian opposition factions since January 2018 following a Turkish cross-border military operation.
This “confirms that this play was prepared by the [Erdogan’s] government … that suffering because of the upcoming elections next year,” the YPG statement said.
Erdogan is trying to find a pretext to convince the world that the SDF poses a threat to Turkey’s national security and, therefore, secure an international green light to mount another cross-border incursion against the areas of northeastern Syria, as this attack represents “his survival card in the upcoming elections,” the statement said.
The Turkish Interior Minister, Suleyman Soylu, accused the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), which has been fighting against Turkey for nearly four decades, of standing behind the blast. Turkey considers the SDF an offshoot of the PKK.
Soylu said the perpetrator was arrested.