Turkiye says it won’t tolerate any “provocations” over the events in Syria as its Kurdish community called for protests over a government offensive targeting Kurdish fighters in its southern neighbour. Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya wrote that Ankara is “meticulously monitoring the developments in Syria and all movements along our border”, and will “not tolerate any initiatives or provocations … targeting the peace of our country”.“As our esteemed President [Recep Tayyip Erdogan] has also stated, ‘Turkiye is a country that advocates for the resolution, on the basis of brotherhood and with sound judgment, of the issues that have caused immense suffering to the peoples of the region.’”
Ceasefire optimism fades as conflict intensifies in northeast Syria
The optimism we witnessed close to the front lines in the provinces of Aleppo and Raqqa over the last few days fades a little more with every hour as the violence continues in northeast Syria. Armed factions on both sides seem to be slipping into familiar grooves of discord and conflict over the last few hours. Overnight, we saw those clashes in Hasakah governate around the prison there. The Syrian government and the army accused the SDF of releasing detainees from that prison. The SDF said it was overwhelmed by attacks on the jail and subsequent clashes with government troops and their armed supporters, and
PKK leader commits to supporting SDF ‘no matter the cost’
A top commander in the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), a Kurdish armed group in Turkiye with links to the Syrian Democratic Forces leadership, has vowed to back its ally. Murat Karayilan, in a message reported by the pro-PKK outlet ANF News, said “no matter the cost we will never leave you alone. In this process, as the movement and as the entire Kurdish people, we will do whatever is necessary”. The Turkish government, which has banned the PKK along with many other countries as “a terrorist group”, has been involved in a peace process with the PKK over the past year.
Kurds protest in Iraq’s Erbil, Duhok over fighting in Syria
Protests were held in northern Iraq’s semi-autonomous Kurdish region on Monday night over the clashes between the Syrian army and SDF soldiers in neighbouring Syria. Video showed demonstrators gathered outside the US consulate in Erbil in a protest they said was against attacks on Kurds in Syria, while protests were also held in the city of Duhok. The Kurds are a group of people who are indigenous to the Mesopotamian plains and nearby highlands which, today, stretch across southeastern Turkiye, northeastern Syria, northern Iraq, northwestern Iran and southwestern Armenia. The Kurdish population is concentrated in these areas.
Residents of Aleppo’s Sheikh Maqsoud area evacuate on January 9 [AFP]
