It is well known that Turkey does not care about international law in its "fight" against the Kurds. Even in times of an earthquake catastrophe of apocalyptic proportions, as the Turkish-Syrian border region is currently experiencing, the government in Ankara cannot be dissuaded from its campaign against the Kurdish people. On Wednesday, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan again had areas in the autonomous region of northern and eastern Syria bombed. The drone hit a vehicle on a busy road between Qamishlo and Tirbespiyê, killing a civilian and injuring a member of the Asayish security force. It was the third deadly drone strike by the Turkish state since the devastating earthquakes of 6 February - in addition to artillery fire by jihadist auxiliaries of its NATO partner.

"Ankara has been allowed to get away with far too much all these years," said Bêrîvan Xalid, co-chair of the Executive Council of the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES). “It is therefore hardly surprising that there is no outcry of indignation from the international community even now. At the same time, Erdogan's behaviour is inhumane and unethical, and his actions are an attack on the values and principles of the community, which the individual states must orientate themselves with. Bombing civilians is cruel anyway. But in the midst of an earthquake disaster with tens of thousands of deaths, thousands of injured and tremendous destruction, such attacks should be considered as a barbaric act. We consider it unacceptable that the Erdogan regime is using the earthquake to continue the war against us and bomb our people. Likewise, it is unacceptable that the world remains silent," said Xalid.

AANES therefore called on the international community to impose targeted and severe sanctions against Turkish state representatives. “Turkey is undermining the hard-won stability and security in the north-eastern Syrian autonomous regions in order to achieve its goal of dismantling AANES, and is deliberately trying to exacerbate the crisis in the country. There is already a humanitarian emergency in northern and eastern Syria, which has been further deepened by the earthquakes. The military aggression is further aggravating the region. Turkey's week-long wave of attacks in November and December had already destroyed large parts of the civilian infrastructure, including electricity plants, oil fields and grain silos. In northern Syria, the earthquakes have thus hit an area already facing immense infrastructural and humanitarian challenges from the Turkish war. Ongoing state terror directed by Erdogan further worsens the human rights situation. The world must finally take action to put an end to this injustice," Xalid stated.