“We're trying to obtain more information about what's happening on the ground,” said State Department spokesman Jeff Rathke. “We have raised with the PYD [Democratic Union Party] our concerns about their human rights record, including intimidation of rival Kurdish political parties in the past.”
The PYD’s military wing known as the YPG, with the help of U.S.-led coalition airstrikes, carried out operations in the northeast Syrian cities of Tel Abyad and al-Hasakah to push back Daesh.
Since the operations began two weeks ago, almost 15,000 civilians from adjacent villages and towns have crossed the border into Turkey’s southeastern Sanliurfa province, official sources told Anadolu Agency on Friday.
Turkish officials said the refugees are Syrian Arabs or Turkmens rather than Kurds.
"Ninety-eight percent of the region is made up of Arabs and Turkmens, but the PYD is changing the demographics of that region with aims to establish a Kurdish state by forcing Arab Syrians to migrate to Turkey," said Sanliurfa governor speaking to a Turkish TV.
Addressing the issue, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan blamed the airstrikes of contributing to the Kurdish group’s capture of Arab and Turkmen lands.
The U.S. dismissed those claims.
“Our airstrikes are focused on the fight against ISIL/ISIS [Daesh] and not to any other purpose. So I want to make that aspect of it quite clear as well,” Rathke said.
www.aa.com.tr
13/6/15
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US Probes Report of Kurd YPG Purging Arabs ...
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U.S. State Department spokesman Jeff Rathke told reporters Friday, “We are aware of the reports and we are concerned by them and we are seeking more information about them.”
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Kurdish fighters have captured more than 200 villages and towns in northeastern Syria since May and now are on the outskirts of Tal Abyad, an ISIS-held town on the Turkish border.
The 15 groups, including the powerful ultraconservative Ahrar al-Sham and Jaish al-Islam, said in a statement Monday that the cleansing is concentrated in the northeastern predominantly Kurdish province of Hassakeh and in Tal Abyad, a mixed town. They said the Kurdish advance and U.S.-led airstrikes caused the ethnic cleansing.
YPG spokesman Redur Khalil refuted the claims.
Associated Press
15/6/15