Syria: Protection of Civilians in Afrin

Lord Soley Excerpts

Tuesday 13th March 2018 Lords Chamber

[Lord Bates]

My noble friend is right to point to the complexity of the situation that we face there. He invites me to make the case for Turkey. I do not particularly want to do that but, by way of explanation, it would take a different view of the linkages between the PYD and the YPG to the PKK, the Kurdish terrorist organisation that is proscribed both in the UK and in Turkey. Turkey sees the links there. From that perspective, it also has to be said that Turkey is host to the largest number of refugees from Syria of any country—some 3 million—and all accounts are that the way in which it looks after those refugees is exemplary. We can explore those issues, but we certainly do not believe that there is a justification for this. That is why we have called for the de-escalation, and we will encourage all other NATO allies to do the same.

[Lord Soley (Lab)]

My Lords, the Minister will have a lot of sympathy because we all recognise the complexity of this and the frustration that we have at the failure of international policy, not least because of the policies of Russia over recent years—a point I have made before. But there is a different issue, which my noble friend Lord Collins raised, about the policy regarding the Kurdish situation and Turkey. It has always been a concern that Turkey, as a close NATO ally, as has been pointed out, has an ongoing problem with the Kurds. It is certainly not helping itself by what it is doing now; it will make it far worse to solve. I ask the Minister again, as my noble friend Lord Collins did: are the Government trying to get a policy on the relationship between Turkey and the Kurds? It is not for us to intervene, but it is for us to say that the problem with the Kurdish minority in Turkey will be made infinitely worse by what is happening now in Syria.

[Lord Bates]

As I said, we do not draw the parallel that the Turkish Government does between the PYD and the YPG. We believe that they have been courageous fighters against Daesh and have been very effective in that role. We do not recognise the links. Those points have been made. We have made the point that the battle against Daesh, which is crucial for stability in the region, is far from won and that this is a diversion of essential resource from that effort. This might not directly answer the point the noble Lord raised, but in the current context it is probably as far as I am able to go.