As Turkey waits for a green light from Russia or the United States to expand its occupation in northern Syria, İlham Ehmed, the top executive official of the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES) said the areas around Tall Rifat, Kobanê or Minbic could be the next targets of the Turkish state.
Ehmed, the president of the Executive Committee of the Syrian Democratic Council (SDC), the governing body of the AANES, told Hawar News Agency that Russia would be responsible for a Turkish attack on Tall Rifat, a town in northwestern Syria under the control of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF).
The control of Tall Rifat has been reported to be on the Russian-Turkish negotiations table for quite a while.
Ehmed emphasised that the Western states were also in the equation and that Turkey’s ability to insist on staying in Idlib (western Syria) and holding a part of the strategic M4 highway was also related to decisions taken with Western states.
She said the threat posed by Turkey against the AANES was part of the policy embedded in the foundational ideology of the Turkish Republic.
“The threats of Turkey against Rojava cannot be evaluated as a temporary, conjunctural rethoric,” she said.
“This is a fundamental approach that is embedded in the foundation of Turkey. And it’s not only a matter of threats posed against the region in north and east Syria. These threats and attacks are actually a part of the genocidal policy targeting all the Kurds. It’s a long term strategy of the Turkish Republic.”
Indicating that they would resist Turkey’s attacks, Ehmed said taking action in the face of a vital threat was the most legitimate right of self defence for all people.
“Nobody and no power has the right to question our self-defence initiatives on our own territory,” she added. “As a matter of fact, if we are not able to defend ourselves and act together as a people, we will be a nation without the respect of others.”
Ehmed also noted that although various steps were taken by different parties for a political solution in Syria, she didn’t expect a breakthrough in the short term.
“We see that some new deals and cooperation protocols have been signed by the US, Russia and Israel. But I don’t foresee that a political consensus can be reached and a substantial solution found in the near future, since there are still so many issues to be dealt with, like the activities of al-Qaeda, the Islamic State, and the role of Iran and Turkey.”
