Eurasia Press & News
Latest Developments
• Kurdish-Held Northeast Syria Faces Electricity, Water Crisis: Turkish strikes in northeast Syria have left more than 1 million people in northeast Syria without access to electricity and water, the BBC reported on November 19. Between October 2019 and January 2024, Turkey carried out more than 100 strikes against oil fields, gas facilities, and power stations in Kurdish-held northeast Syria. The co-director of a local water board described the conditions as “a humanitarian catastrophe.”
• Ankara Considers Infrastructure A ‘Legitimate’ Target: Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said in October 2023 that Turkey considers any infrastructure and energy facilities owned and controlled by the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) or the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) as “legitimate targets.” The YPG is a militia within the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) — a Kurdish-led opposition organization backed by the United States and other members of the NATO Alliance, to which Turkey also belongs. In a statement to the BBC, Ankara denied that “civilians or civilian infrastructure” were ever among Turkey’s targets.
• Turkey Blames Climate Change for Humanitarian Situation: Responding to allegations of possible war crimes and crimes against humanity, Ankara claimed that it “fully respects international law,” insisting that the lack of water in northeast Syria is due to climate change and “long-neglected water infrastructure” maintenance.
FDD Expert Response
“Erdogan is engaged in a purposeful campaign to target civilians in Syria under the guise of counterterrorism operations. The targeting of civilian infrastructure only exacerbates an already dire humanitarian situation. Erdogan sees a failed normalization effort with Assad and a likely U.S. withdrawal from Iraq as an opening to target the Kurds without repercussions.” — Tyler Stapleton, Director of Congressional Relations at FDD Action
“Turkey has politicized water in the region for decades but never for such a sinister purpose. By withholding water flow to northern Syria, Ankara demonstrates that its intention is unrelated to counterterrorism, which it has long claimed to be the purpose of its military operations inside Syria. It’s a policy to kill Kurds. The prevailing narrative has been that Turkey has only targeted Kurdish fighters affiliated with the U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces. The Biden administration’s approach to protecting the SDF has been lackluster since assuming office. It is Kurdish civilians who are now paying the highest price.” — Sinan Ciddi, Non-Resident Senior Fellow
