Alwaght- Turkey's main opposition Party, CHP, calls on Erdogan's government to immediately brief parliament on the army’s fatal shelling of Syrian Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD) in northern Syria.
Turkey-based hurriyetdailynews.com cited CHP officials as saying that there were a number of “uncertainties” over the shelling in terms of scope, time, objective and target. CHP officials highlighted the need for urgent briefing from the government to parliament in order to clarify the issue and inform the public.
“We are worried about Turkey’s involvement in the Syrian quagmire. We don’t want Turkey to be a direct part of the Syrian civil war,” party officials said, adding that they were “closely following developments in the region,” CHP leader Kemal Kılıcdaroglu told.
The Turkish army has been shelling targets of thePYD’s military wing, the People’s Protection Units (YPG), in northern Syria since the weekend. The YPG, which Ankara considers a terrorist organization and an extension of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), had seized an air base north of Aleppo, further complicating the conflict on NATO-member Turkey’s southern border.
Turkish Prime Minister Ahmed Davutoglu said on Monday Ankara will not allow the town of Azaz in northern Syria to fall to the Kurdish YPG forces and promised the "harshest reaction," if the group attempts to re-take the city.
"YPG elements were forced away from around Azaz. If they approach again they will see the harshest reaction. We will not allow Azaz to fall," Davutoglu told reporters aboard his plane bound for Ukraine, Reuters reported.
He said the Turkish military would render Syria’s Menagh air base "unusable" if YPG forces do not retreat from the area, which they previously captured from Islamist militants. He warned the YPG not to move east of its Afrin region or west of the Euphrates River.
