JINHA

AMED - Over the last few days, thousands of civilians fleeing the city of Girê Spî (Tel Abyad) have faced a crisis as Turkish border guards turned them away. HDP Diyarbakır representative Nursel Aydoğan says the Turkish state intentionally refused entry to civilians in order to cause civilian deaths in the battle and blame them on the YPJ/YPG.

Earlier today, YPJ/YPG and Burkan al-Firat forces entered the city of Girê Spî (Tel Abyad), a location of life or death importance for Daesh. The YPJ/YPG had advanced on the city from Sêrekaniyê in Rojava's Cizîrê Canton, Burkan al-Firat from Kobanê Canton in a joint pincer maneuver. Forces surrounded the city from the south, east and west. With this, they cut off the road to the Daesh capital of Rakka.

As they approached the city, YPJ/YPG forces have pledged to use all resources necessary to help civilians return to their homes in Tel Abyad as soon as the city is free from Daesh. In the meantime, they have called on civilians to evacuate temporarily.

Thousands of civilians headed north to the Turkish border to flee the advancing front. There, Turkish soldiers met them with armored vehicles, leaving them at the border gate under the hot sun. Turkish forces at times used water cannons and other violent methods to force the civilians back into the city. Daesh, for its part, was ordering civilians back into Tel Abyad at gunpoint.

Although the Turkish state has attempted to create the impression that Turkey "opens its arms" to refugees, said Nursel Aydoğan, the civilians were only allowed to cross the border after widespread backlash and a series of negotiations.

"It's necessary that civilians be unharmed in the fighting there. The AKP government is shrewdly trying to ensure Daesh's success, and the YPJ/YPG forces failure, in Tel Abyad by keeping civilians there to stop the YPJ/YPG operation," said Nursel. "If the civilians can't leave and there are civilian deaths in this operation, [the AKP government] will claim that the YPJ/YPG forces committed war crimes. They're trying to erase the prestige that the YPJ/YPG has gained internationally."

Nursel called for civilians to immediately be allowed to evacuate Tel Abyad via the border gate to the north or to Rojava's Cizîrê Canton in the east.

(gc-at/fk/cm)