ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Turkish strikes on vital infrastructure in northeast Syria (Rojava) this week have left hundreds of thousands of people without water or electricity, the local administration said on Friday.
“In the areas of Kobani, Tirbespi, and Amuda, the attacks destroyed the electricity sector, leaving more than 250,000 families without power... In al-Darbasiyah, with a population of over 50,000, residents suffer from water shortages and livelihood challenges due to the aggression,” read a statement from the department of foreign relations of the Kurdish-led Democratic Autonomous Administration in North and East Syria (DAANES).
Turkish strikes also targeted the Shahba and Afrin region in northwest Syria, coupled with ground attacks by Turkey-backed militia groups, the statement added. Oil facilities and refineries have also been attacked.
The DAANES statement labeled the Turkish attacks “genocide” and criticized the international community for not speaking out.
“We condemn the international silence, which stands as a disgrace as we strive for stability and democratic solutions within the unity of Syria and its people,” the statement read.
Locations in northern Iraq have also been hit.
The strikes were in retaliation for Wednesday’s attack on Turkish Aerospace Industries Inc. (TUSAS) facilities in northern Ankara that killed five people and injured 22 others. The Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) claimed responsibility for the attack.
The Turkish defense ministry said that in its strikes, 32 “targets belonging to terrorists were neutralized” and that measures were undertaken to ensure civilians and the environment were not harmed. Turkey uses the term “neutralized” to denote adversaries captured, wounded, or killed.
Kurdish security forces (Asayish) in Rojava said on Friday that over the past few days, Ankara attacked 685 times with drones, warplanes, and artillery, killing 17 people - three soldiers, and 14 civilians. Another 48 people have been injured, including 39 civilians.
Turkey alleges that armed groups in Rojava are a front for the PKK and have carried out several cross-border air and ground operations.
This surge of attacks came as there is growing expectation that Turkey may restart peace talks with the PKK to bring an end to the 40-year conflict.
On Tuesday, Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) leader Devlet Bahceli proposed allowing the PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan, who has been imprisoned since 1999, to address the Turkish parliament and declare that the PKK has been dissolved.
Bahceli, whose ultranationalist party is an ally of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s Justice and Development Party (AKP), said that Ocalan should benefit from the “right to hope” principle that provides for the possibility of conditional release for prisoners, taking their behavior into account.
On Friday, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Turkey would continue to fight terrorism.
"Terrorists are puppets. Our goal is a Turkey without terrorism… We will not compromise on this," he told reporters on board his flight returning from the BRICS summit in Russia, Anadolu Agency reported.
