Polat Can
UPDATE 2: Polat Can restored his twitter account (source).
UPDATE: Polat Can deleted his twitter account (source) after his statements had been widely circulated in the media.
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Polat Can, head of the information center of the of the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG), said that Russia is “encouraging” and ”pushing” Turkey to launch a military operation in northeastern Syria.
“The Russians froze the campaign on Idlib in exchange for Turkey’s pledge to fight the Kurds in Manbaj and East Euphrates. The Russian did it in Afrin and they want to repeat the same scenario again,” Polat said on Twitter on December 16.
The YPG’s commander went on to accuse Russia of using the remaining ISIS and Free Syrian Army (FSA) fighters to take revenge on the Kurds, create problems for the US-led coalition and distance Turkey from the West.
Polat added that Russia wants to “turn the Kurds into a common enemy of all.”
This was not the first time Syrian Kurdish officials have accused Russia of cooperating with Turkey against the Kurids. The previous wide-spread attempt to blame and shame Moscow by Kurdish media was undertaken during the Turkish military operation in Afrin. Syrian pro-government sources had slammed these claims when the Kurdish area was under attack earlier this year and accused the YPG of turning down several Russian proposals that would have prevented the Turkish attack.
Polat’s accusations are likely another propaganda stunt aimed at pleasing the U.S., which the YPG is relying on to stop any Turkish attack on northeastern Syria.
