The Turkish Ministry of National Defence said on Sunday night that Turkey is exercising its right of self-defence arising from Article 51* of the United Nations Charter in a statement regarding its airstrikes against North and East Syria and northern Iraq.
Turkey bases its right of self-defence mentioned in the UN Charter on the 13 November bomb attack in Istanbul that killed six people.
Some analysts consider the Istanbul attack a conspiracy to legitimise Turkey’s further military operations against North and East Syria at the international level.
Turkish security forces said that the suspect, who was arrested after the bomb attack, was an intelligence agent trained by the People’s Defence Centre of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), the Democratic Union Party (PYD) and the People’s Defence Units (YPG), and that she received instructions from the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES).
However, the accused Kurdish groups all condemned the attack on civilians and declared that they had no connection with the bombing.
The AANES also denied the allegations Turkey made against them, and called on international forces to be involved in the investigation.
Certain contradictions in the statements of Turkish officials following the Istanbul bombing are under public discussion, and no organisation or group has yet claimed responsibility for the attack.
The United Nations has yet to make a statement on the matter.
* Nothing in the present Charter shall impair the inherent right of individual or collective self-defence if an armed attack occurs against a Member of the United Nations, until the Security Council has taken measures necessary to maintain international peace and security. Measures taken by Members in the exercise of this right of self-defence shall be immediately reported to the Security Council and shall not in any way affect the authority and responsibility of the Security Council under the present Charter to take at any time such action as it deems necessary in order to maintain or restore international peace and security.
