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Syrian conflict: escalation between Turkey, West Kurdistan
Turkish artillery attack against Rojavan city of Efrîn leaves 2 killed after Turkish government had blamed YPG for Ankara bombing · Kurdish militia says Turkey looking for excuse to invade Syria
According to Turkish newspaper Daily Sabah, the Efrîn attack was conducted by missiles launched from the province of Hatay, and shelling continued over today's morning.
Turkish prime minister Ahmed Davutoglu blamed West Kurdish militia YPG of being behind Wednesday's attack in Ankara, which cost the lives of 28 people.
Salih Muslim, leader of the main Rojavan party, the PYD (maintains links to YPG), denied the fact that the Kurdish militia had anything to do with the Ankara bombing. YPG spokesman Redur Xelil further claimed Ankara was "manufacturing" accusations in order to have an excuse to invade Syria.
The US government distanced itself from Davutoglu's stance by saying that Washington "can not confirm nor deny" YPG involvement in the Ankara attack.
A strategic battle
Efrîn is the capital of the westernmost of the three Rojavan cantons. It is the only canton having no territorial continuity with the rest of the Kurdish-controlled territory in Syria: Cizîre and Kobanê cantons have been physically connected since June 2015.
The ultimate goal of the Kurdish movement in Syria is territorial continuity for the three cantons. To attain this, the Kurdish forces need to occupy a strip of land of about 80 km long between Efrîn canton and the Euphrates River, which marks the westernmost limit of the Kobanê canton. Kurdish militias YPG and YPJ are advancing eastward from Efrîn, with the support of several allied Arab militias under the Syrian Democratic Forces umbrella.
Turkey, however, seeks to avoid by all means that the 80 km-long strip be occupied by Kurdish forces. Ankara fears that, if that happens, virtually all its border with Syria -with the exception of the Hatay area- fall in the hands of YPG and YPJ, which keep an alliance with the Kurdish militias operating in Turkey's North Kurdistan under the PKK umbrella.
One of Turkey's red lines in this respect is the occupation of the city of Azaz, close to the Turkish-Syrian border. Azaz is now in the hands of several Syrian rebel, anti-Bashar Al-Assad groups. But the YPG-YPJ and their allies are pushing towards Azaz, and could eventually start an assault on the city. Turkish forces have in recent days shelled YPG-YPJ positions around Azaz in order to prevent them from getting closer to it.