Thousands gathered in Qamishli (Qamişlo), a Kurdish-majority city in North and East Syria, on Tuesday to honour six individuals killed in recent Turkish airstrikes. The community’s demanded the cessation of Turkey’s ongoing campaign against Kurdish targets, which escalated from Monday.
🔴 Thousands gathered in Qamishli, a Kurdish-majority city in North and East Syria, on Tuesday to honour six individuals killed in recent Turkish airstrikes. #StopTurkeyDroneStrikes | #NoFlyZone4Rojava | #AANES
🌍 https://t.co/No7Njvo31H pic.twitter.com/4gAjKDHRbg
— MedyaNews (@1MedyaNews) December 26, 2023
This latest Turkish offensive struck 22 civilian areas across Qamishli, Amuda (Amûde) and Kobani (Kobanê). The assault resulted in eight fatalities and 13 injuries. Critical infrastructure, including industrial sites, a former train station, and the Meştenûr Hospital in Kobani, suffered significant damages. Local sources have labelled these actions as war crimes, expressing dismay over the international community’s muted response.
The Peoples’ Equality and Democracy Party (DEM Party) issued a strong rebuke of the airstrikes, decrying them as war crimes. The party highlighted the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) and Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) coalition’s role in the attacks, stressing the severe impact on civilians and infrastructure. The statement implored both national and international intervention to halt the violence.
“Only this year, 117 airstrikes were carried out by Turkish warplanes on North and East Syria, killing 86 people. It is clear that the main target of these attacks are the Kurds, as evidenced by the targeting of civilian settlements and innocent people. The AKP-MHP government is misrepresenting these indiscriminate attacks on Kurds to the international community as legitimate by distorting Article 51 of the United Nations Charter. As a result of these attacks, just like what it did in Afrin, it is implementing a policy of demographic change in areas where Kurds live, that constitutes a war crime. All these attacks also damage the ground for political solution and stability in Syria, leading to the perpetuation and regional continuation of the war… We call for an end to this madness of war in every field. These reckless attacks carried out on North and East Syria must be stopped immediately. For this, we call on the national and international democratic public and all anti-war activists to take action. Together, we can stop this war, the sufferings, and the deaths,” stated the DEM Party.
The Kurdistan Communities Union (KCK), Kurdish umbrella organisation, also expressed its stance, claiming that the recent attacks are an attempt “to hide their heavy defeat” against the Kurdish guerrilla. Criticising the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) for its approach, the KCK urged the Peshmerga to distance from Turkish military positions.
“[W]hat is done in Rojava is no different from what is done in Gaza. What they did in Rojava showed how two-faced and deceitful the Turkish state, the AKP-MHP government, and Tayyip Erdoğan are regarding Gaza and Palestine… The aim of the genocidal colonialist Turkish state is to occupy Rojava, liquidate the Rojava revolution and eliminate the status achieved by the Kurdish people. This is the real target and purpose of the attacks. Against this, the people of Rojava and the peoples of North and East Syria should continue and expand their resistance,” highlighted the KCK.
