The People’s Defence Forces reported on Tuesday that the Turkish army used phosphorus bombs in military operations against Kurdish fighters in northern Iraq.
While the delivery of humanitarian aid to quake survivors in Syria has ramped up after the opening of two border crossings, distribution is still hampered due to rivalry between groups that control areas in Syria’s earthquake-hit northwest. The leader of a Turkey-backed Syrian National Army faction stole tents that were meant for earthquake victims.
Turkey has witnessed an escalation in anti-Syrian sentiments since the earthquakes. Turkish Defence Minister Hulusi Akar said speculations about a possible new disaster-triggered Syrian migration wave into Turkey were “simply not true” but 20,000 Syrian citizens living in Turkey had returned to their home lands because they lost their homes and relatives.
At memorial in berlin for those who died in the devastating earthquakes in Turkey and Syria, German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier called for “enduring solidarity” in relief efforts. The Secretary General of the Kurdish Community in Germany told the German President that Kurdish officials had been excluded from the memorial.
Prominent international filmmakers have demanded that in the wake of the earthquakes, Turkey, Syria and the Iraqi Kurdistan Regional Government must unconditionally open all border crossings.
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