Deadly clashes between government forces and Kurdish fighters in Syria were an attempt to sabotage peace moves between Turkey and the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), the militant group said Tuesday.
“The attack on the Kurdish neighborhoods in Aleppo and the approach and attitude of state officials towards our movement sabotage the ‘Peace and Democratic Society’ process,” said a PKK statement carried by the Fırat news agency.
The clashes erupted last week after negotiations stalled on integrating the Kurds’ de facto autonomous administration and forces into Syria’s new government.
By Sunday Syrian forces were in full control of Aleppo after taking over the city’s Kurdish neighborhoods and evacuating fighters there to Kurdish autonomous areas following days of deadly clashes.
Turkey, which views Kurdish fighters in Syria as a terrorist group affiliated with the PKK, blacklisted by Ankara and its Western allies, lauded Syria’s operation as “against terrorist organizations.”
The Aleppo attacks “call into question the ceasefire between our movement and Turkey and the ongoing ‘Peace and Democratic Society’ process based on it,” the PKK said.
“We have fulfilled our responsibilities in the ‘Peace and Democratic Society’ process without hesitation and with courage,” it said, urging Turkey’s ruling party and its nationalist MHP ally to “refrain from steps and practices that sabotage the process.”
© Agence France-Presse