Targeting a Kurdish militia that they claimed trained some members of the international Anti-Fascist (Antifa) movement, Syria and Iraq bombed Turkey.
Antifa is a left-wing organization that has been involved in most "Black Live Matters" protests in the US and recently has been threatened by US President Trump to be tagged as a terrorist organization.
According to Newsweek, on Friday, the Defense Ministry of Turkey released a video amid its operations in the Great Zab region in Iraq which featured an F-16 fighter jet. Four members of the Kurdish militia, Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) was said to have been neutralized in the attack.
Meanwhile, Syria was also a target of the attacks from Turkish forces and its rebel allies. Kurdish groups which settle in the northern Raqqa province's Tel Abyad countryside were also bombed according to the Wednesday report from the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. The group that was targeted was Kurdish Syrian Democratic Forces who also usually use the insignia of the PKK. Thus, Turkey said that they are a proxy of the group.
However, since the Syrian Democratic Forces are supported by the US government, this has caused several complications with the attack from Turkey.
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PKK's alleged connection to Antifa.
After a series of protests broke out in the US due to the death of George Floyd, one of the groups of activists that has been focused on is Antifa. This is after Trump blamed them for starting the violence during the protests across the nation.
It can be recalled that Trump also claimed that Antifa is behind the civil unrest since 2017, and has come to a point last month that he said he would declare them as a terrorist organization. However, it faced several constitutional issues.
In light of this, The Guardian reported that Turkey used the opportunity to put the alleged links between Antifa and PKK in the spotlight during their attacks. Turkey's government also issued a graphic which channeled the remarks of Trump against Antifa.
Based on the poster, despite the fact that the full name of the group is Anti-Fascist Movement, some of its members are trained by the terrorist organizations PKK or YPD which they claimed has acted with the mentality of fascists.
On June 3, the same day that the posters were released, Mevlut Cavusoglo, the foreign minister of turkey pushed Trump to take a stand on Antifa and separatist groups of Kurdistan. He also added that as allies of Turkey, the US should show support to the country when they are attacked by Antifa or the PKK organizations.
Meanwhile, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) stated that there is no report or intelligence that supports the claim that Antifa is involved with the terrorist groups. In addition, Syrian Democratic Forces representative Sinam Mohamad said that there are no links between the said Kurdish militia and the Antifa Movement.
Moreover, the bombings were condemned by the governments of Syria and Iraq who claimed that the attacks breached their sovereignty as nations.
Related article: Trump Says Antifa Will Be Labelled as Terrorist Group with Constitutional Issue Arising
