ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – The spokesperson for the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) of northern Syria challenge Turkish officials to provide evidence of their claims the YPG committed human rights violations. “The allegations by the Turkish officials that our forces have violated fundamental human rights have nothing to do with the reality on the ground,” Nuri Mahmud wrote in a statement published by the YPG on Saturday. “Instead of making accusations, Turkey must reveal any documents or evidences regarding human rights violations by our forces, if there is any,” he said. Mahmud was responding to recent statements made by Ibrahim Kalin, spokesperson for Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. “There are many human rights violations by the PYD/YPG terrorist group, such as oppression, torture, closing political parties, keeping children from going to school, and forced migration,” Kalin told reporters on January 8 after a meeting with US National Security Advisor John Bolton in Ankara. Kalin met with Bolton after Erdogan snubbed the visiting American official who had said the US would need a guarantee about the safety of Kurdish forces in Syria before pulling out their 2,000 troops. Erdogan himself has cited a Human Rights Watch report that accused the YPG of recruiting child soldiers. The head of the global watchdog called him out on that, telling Erdogan not to ignore the many Human Rights Watch reports about violations committed by Turkish forces.
