“A war between Turkey and the Kurds in Syria must not be allowed to happen,” said Annalena Baerbock, stressing that it would help no one if the terrorist militia “Islamic State” were to emerge as the winner from such a conflict.
German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock warned of a worsening of the situation in Turkey's conflict with Kurdish forces in northern Syria. “A war by Turkey against the Kurds in Syria must not happen,’ Baerbock said on Deutschlandfunk radio on Monday. She said it would help no one if the terrorist militia Islamic State were to come out on top of such a conflict. “That would be a security risk for Syria, for Turkey and for us in Europe,” said the Green Party politician.
With regard to ISIS, Baerbock pointed out that “In particular, it was also the Kurds who pushed back ISIS’. In this context, she also recalled ‘the terrible massacres committed by ISIS terrorists’. The city of Kobanê, against which Turkey and its allied jihadist militias are currently preparing an invasion, is ‘a symbol of the courageous fight of the Kurds against ISIS,’ said Baerbock. “Together with the international anti-ISIS coalition, of which Germany is also a member, they defeated ISIS.”
The current situation in Syria should ‘not be used to expel the Kurds again, to allow violence to break out again,’ the minister said, adding that this is precisely what Germany is calling on NATO partner Turkey to do. From the minister's point of view, the international community must now make it clear: “We all have a responsibility to ensure that there is no new violence, that there are no new radical forces, but that after years of this terror, people can finally live in safety.” Baerbock also emphasised the territorial integrity of Syria, saying: “The unity of the country must be preserved, and third parties must not be allowed to wreak havoc there again, as Iran and Russia did before.”
Two weeks ago, the Islamist militia Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), which is still listed as a terrorist organisation internationally, and its allies took Damascus, ending decades of rule by the Baath regime. Since then, tensions have been escalating in the areas of the Democratic Autonomous Administration in North and East Syria (DAANES), as Turkey, in the slipstream of the HTS offensive against former President Bashar al-Assad, launched a major attack on North-East Syria together with its proxy army ‘SNA’. The cities of Tel Rifat and Manbij were occupied a few weeks ago, and now the Turkish sabre-rattling is getting louder and louder near Kobanê. The NATO member Turkey has been occupying parts of northern Syria since 2016, including Afrin, Serêkaniyê and Girê Spî.
