ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — Turkey’s Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu visited Afrin, northern Syria on Tuesday, making a stop at the Shifa Hospital, the site of a recent deadly attack which Ankara blames on Kurdish forces.
“Our Minister Mr. [Suleyman Soylu] in Afrin, inspecting the Shifa Hospital, which was attacked by the YPG/PKK Terrorist Organization last month,” read a tweet from his ministry.
The People’s Protection Units (YPG) are a Kurdish armed force in northeastern Syria (Rojava). They form the backbone of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), a force allied with the US-led global coalition against the Islamic State (ISIS). Ankara considers the YPG an offshoot of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), which has waged a decades-long armed struggle for Kurdish rights in Turkey.
Twenty-one people were killed, 17 of them civilians, including children, and 23 others were injured in shelling of Afrin city and Shifa hospital in June. Four hospital staff members are among the dead. The artillery fire reportedly originated from northern Aleppo province where regime-backed militias and Kurdish forces are located in close proximity to each other.
The YPG denied responsibility for the attack. “We condemn the attack on a hospital in Afrin. Following the attack, Turkish president Erdogan blamed our forces of being behind the attack, stating unfounded claims,” said spokesperson Nuri Mahmoud on June 14.
“Erdogan's government which is trying to portray itself as the defender of civilians in northern Syria and elsewhere is carrying out all forms of terrorist attacks against civilians,” he added.
Afrin is a Kurdish-majority region in Syria’s northwest. The YPG took control of the area after regime forces re-deployed to defend Arab-majority areas against rebels at the start of the uprising in 2011. In 2018, Turkey and its allied Syrian militias seized control of Afrin, forcefully displacing much of the local population.
Turkey has blamed the YPG for several deadly explosions in the city.
Last week, Ankara claimed it discovered a mass grave in Afrin. The YPG said the site was a cemetery for civilians and fighters killed in the conflict. Both sides accuse the other of committing a crime.
During his visit on the Eid al-Adha Muslim holiday, Soylu also met with Turkish police forces stationed in Afrin.
