KURDISH MILITIAS CALL FOR NO-FLY ZONE AT SYRIAN-TURKISH BORDER

Kurdish militias are calling for a no-fly zone at the Syrian-Turkish border, Nesrin Ebdullah, a spokesperson for the Women’s Protection Units [YPJ; a female version of the People’s Protection Units (YPG)], said according to the Russian state-run media outlet Sputnik.

“We demand this. We want to be protected from the threat of aerial operations. We demand guarantees that we would be secure. Our people must be safeguarded against aerial operations. Today Turkey carried out an aerial operation. No one knows what would happen tomorrow. The coalition forces must protect us and the territory we have liberated. The [US-led] coalition must take action,” Sputnik qouted the YPJ representative as saying.

The YPG and the YPJ are the core of the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) operating in northern Syria. Despite this, Kurdish units are bombed and shelled on a constant basis by the Turkish Air Force and the Turkish Army.

Ankara describes the YPG and YPJ as a terrorist group for their alleged links to the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) outlawed in Turkey. Indeed, a notable number of PKK fighters are really operating in northern Syria along with members of the SDF. (more here)

The YPG-led media campaign aimed at blaming and shaming Turkey for combating Kurdish militias in Syria has intensified since late April when the Turkish Air Force destroyed a YPG General Command HQ the Mount Karachok near the town of Al-Malikiyah.

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