“Damascus government should stop Turkish occupation in Syria,” senior Kurdish politician says

Kurdish politician Aldar Khalil called on the Damascus administration to stop the “Turkish occupation” in Syria, if it wants to solve the crisis in the country.

"If the Damascus government seeks to resolve the crisis in Syria, only discussions and consultations are not enough. Of course, this is a prerequisite. But the most important thing is to stop the Turkish occupation,” ANHA news agency cited Khalil, a board member of Syria’s Democratic Union Party (PYD) as saying in an interview with Rojava TV.

Turkey which has carried out three military operations into northern Syria since 2016, said last month that it may begin another offensive into the region to combat with Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG), a militant group that Ankara sees as an offshoot of Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK). US-backed YPG is allied with the West in a fight against the Islamic State. The PKK, which has fought against Turkish military for Kurdish rights for nearly four decades, is designated as a terrorist organization by European Union and the United States, but YPG is not. 

Since its “occupation” of Syrian lands, “Turkey has intervened in all of Syria's problems, which has prolonged age of the Syrian crisis,” Khalil said.

The sovereignty of Syria is a responsibility of the Damascus administration, which claims to be the government of the country and represents it in the United Nations, he said.

Regarding the dialogues between the Damascus government and the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria, de facto autonomous region also known as Rojava, Khalil stressed that there are some points where they have no agreement.

“The point that must be agreed upon now is that everyone is in danger and Syrian sovereignty is in danger because of Turkish threats,” he said.