Turkey's state-owned Anadolu Agency (AA) claimed Friday that Turkish and Moldovan intelligence agencies had “rescued” a Moldovan woman, Natalia Barkal, and her four children from the hands of Kurdish authorities in Rojava.
Confirming the news to Rudaw English later on Friday, the head of foreign affairs for the Kurdish-led Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (NES) termed the operation an "abduction" from its al-Hol camp, which “confirms Turkey’s support to terrorism.”
“This also confirms that Turkey is behind all abductions in the NES,” said Abdulkarim Omar, co-chair of NES’ Foreign Relations Commission. “This proves that Turkey wants to abduct all women in order to use them for its own regional agenda.”
Omar's comments were echoed by a statement released by the NES some hours later, which describe Friday's incident as a "new form of support for ISIS", with “mercenaries” affiliated to the extermist militant group taken to areas controlled by Turkish-backed militias under the Syrian National Army umbrella.
“We call on the international community to hold Turkey responsible for the smuggling and receipt of ISIS members,” the statement added.
Kurdish officials did not provide details about the smuggled woman, but AA reported that she and her Syrian husband had lived in the Moldovan capital of Chisinau until 2013, when they moved to the town of Manbij, northwestern Syria. The unnamed husband died in “clashes” in Syria in late 2017. Barkal and her children were moved to al-Hol camp, where they had lived until they were smuggled out.
Sharing photos of himself and the family at Chisinau airport via Twitter, President of Moldova Igor Dodon said the operation was carried out “on my initiative,” with no mention of Turkey. However, AA claimed Dodon had thanked Erdogan "for his extensive efforts to bring back our citizens and for his support."
“The global coalition asked the countries to get their citizens back [with] no response. Moldova did not ask for this woman,” Sinam Mohamad, the US representative of the Syrian Democratic Council (SDC), the SDF’s political wing, told news outlet Voice of America (VOA).
“I don’t know why Moldova did not ask to repatriate,” she added.
Located in Hasaka province, al-Hol camp is home to around to 60,000 Iraqis and Syrians, and 10,000 ISIS-related foreign nationals - most of whom were arrested during the liberation of the last ISIS bastion of Baghouz in March 2019. The camp's residents are predominantly women and children. The NES has said it is incapable of handling the camp long term, and has repeatedly called on the international community to repatriate their nationals or help facilitate trials of suspected ISIS members in Rojava, to little response.
Though Turkey is part of the 82-member, US-led Global Coalition to Defeat Daesh (Islamic State), a recent report by the International Crisis Group called Ankara's response to ISIS “vague” and "uncoordinated".
Rudaw English reached out to the spokesperson for the Global Coalition for response to Friday's incident, to which he replied: "No comment."
Omar also referenced shelling of Ain Issa camp by Turkish forces in October 2019, during its offensive against the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in northern Syria. Up to 950 foreign ISIS-linked women & children escaped from Ain Issa camp, according to local monitor Rojava Information Center.
"Turkey abducted the most dangerous women in prisons whey they attacked Kobane in October,” Omar told Rudaw English.
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