Turkey urged to stop assaults on Kurdish militias in Syria

Turkey dismissed calls from France and Germany on 14-15 February 2016 to stop its shelling of Kurdish fighters in Syria. Turkish armed forces targetted the YPG militia, which is seen as an extension of the PKK, a Kurdish group waging an insurgency on Turkish soil. Among the targets hit by Turkey was the Menagh airbase, which had been seized by the YPG a few days earlier from Syrian islamists.

The pressure on Turkey to stop the strikes increased as the International Syria Support Group reached an agreement to allow access for humanitarian aid to reach besieged areas in Syria and to elaborate modalities for a nationwide cessation of hostilities.

• Primary Source

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