Turkish Attack on Kurds 'Aims to Derail Syrian Crisis Settlement'

Turkish artillery shelling of Kurdish-held areas in northern Syria is an attempt to hinder the international commitment to a political solution to the Syrian war, the chairman of the Syrian Democratic Council told Sputnik Wednesday.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — On Tuesday, the UN Security Council urged Ankara to comply with international law in Syria and reiterated its commitment to the Munich agreements, which stipulates that all parties should work on the cessation of hostilities.

“All kind of military aggression should stop by the Munich decision, but the Turks aren't interested in a political solution or in the intra-Syrian talks, so they are trying to derail them in the name of Turkish national security,” Haytham Manaa said.

He noted that some regional countries are also trying to derail the Syrian peace talks, due to restart later this month, as well as the “international mobilization for a political solution in Syria” which is “a very good occasion for Syrians to stop this war.”

He stressed that the position of the Syrian Democratic Council is that Ankara’s actions can be interpreted as aggression against Syria's sovereignty, as the Turkish Army has no right to bomb Syrian territory.

Ankara claims that Syrian Kurds have links to the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), which is fighting for Kurdish independence from Turkey. Turkey has also been insisting on Kurds being excluded from the peace talks in Geneva, while various international powers have repeatedly stressed that the talks were doomed to fail if Kurdish representatives are not included.

Th UN-brokered talks on Syrian reconciliation were launched in late January, but were later put on hold until February 25.