Turkey: Erdogan announces war against Kurds in neighboring countries – Outright threats are a clear proclamation of violations of international law

Following the outright threats of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan against Syria’s Kurds, the Society for Threatened Peoples (STP) reaffirmed its call for a ban on campaign appearances of Turkish Politicians in Germany. “Now that – in the scope of a pre-election event in Istanbul on Sunday – Erdogan announced plans to attack other areas in northern Syria, the federal government must finally raise an objection against the Turkish president and other Turkish politicians. Germany must not tolerate foreign election campaigns that are based on war propaganda,” stated Kamal Sido, the STP’s Middle East Correspondent, in Göttingen. “In addition, the NATO member states must unequivocally condemn Erdogan’s plans to attack more Kurdish regions in northern Syria and Iraq under the guise of ‘counter-terrorism’. Such deliberate violations of international law must not be tolerated.”

On Sunday, Erdogan had announced plans for more “military operations” in neighboring Syria, following the early presidential elections on June 24, claiming that his soldiers were fighting terrorists in the region of Afrin in northern Syria. “In fact, the Turkish army is waging war against the peaceful Kurdish-inhabited region – an outright violation of international law,” Sido emphasized. This war has led to a further destabilization and a massive increase in violence in Syria. More than 200,000 people were forced to flee from the advancing tanks and the war crimes.

“After conquering Afrin, the Turkish army and their Islamist allies introduced Islamic Sharia laws in the region,” Sido reported. “Now, women and non-Sunni ethnic groups have to follow the strict rules of a radical Islam.” The Turkish army and the Syrian Islamists have taken up to 6,000 Kurds hostage. The region is – de facto – under martial law, and the infrastructure of the agricultural region was almost completely destroyed. The occupiers looted civilian property. They stole agricultural and other vehicles, some of which were brought to Turkey to be sold there.