"The territory that Turkey wants to advance to belongs to the Syrian state. These lands are part of Syria's sovereign system. Attacking these lands means attacking a sovereign state," he said. "Turkey wants to occupy Syria."
Turkey has reached these objectives when its forces and allied Syrian rebels took control over the Syrian city of al-Bab following a months-long operation. However, Ankara has repeatedly indicated that it wanted to proceed further into Syria, naming Manbij and Raqqa as its next intended targets.
"Turkey has repeatedly said that it wants to create a buffer zone for civilians in Syria. However, Ankara's true goals are political in their nature. Turkey's politics towards Syria has been dependent on whether Kurdish forces are present in a certain area or not," Ewwas Eli said.
The PYD official emphasized that Turkey has been particularly opposed to granting the Kurds greater autonomy, let alone independence.
President Erdogan and his supporters maintain that the PYD and its armed wing, known as People's Protection Units (YPG), are affiliated with Kurdistan Workers' Party, which Ankara calls a terrorist organization. Turkish authorities assert that the Kurds have been one of the key sources of unrest in Turkey. At the same time, the Kurds have been instrumental in the anti-Daesh operation in both Iraq and Syria.
"We don't want to fight the Turkish people," Ewwas Eli said. "On the contrary, we dream of living in peace with the Turks as neighbors. We don't want to see any hostilities between each other. We don't want civilians to die on either side. The Turks must oppose the false, dirty politics targeted against the Kurds and offer a helping hand to them."
Never miss a story again — sign up to our Telegram channel and we'll keep you up to speed!
