Russian Defense Ministry asks human rights agencies to assess Turkey’s shelling of Syria

MOSCOW, February 24. /TASS/. The Russian Defense Ministry requests international organizations to give an official assessment to the Turkish military strikes on Syrian territory, Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said in a statement on Wednesday.

"Near-border settlements are shelled form large caliber artillery weapons from Turkish territory. Responding to [Turkey’s] unfounded accusations [against Russia] we request Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, Doctors without Borders and other organizations to give their official assessment to these criminal actions of the Turkish armed forces," he said.

It became known on February 13 that Turkey has been shelling the positions of Syrian Kurds, who fight against terrorists on the side of Damascus. The Turkish authorities acknowledged the fact of shelling of Syrian territory and the President of Turkey Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Ankara was not going to stop the shelling attacks.

Early last week, Russia initiated a meeting of the United Nations Security Council over Ankara’s actions. Following their February 16 meeting, the United Nations Security Council members expressed concern over the actions of the Turkish authorities and agreed to urge Ankara to respect international law.

The Financial Times reported last Friday that Turkey was planning to deploy its troops in Syria’s northern provinces, while Saudi Arabia sought deployment of its troops in the south.

The United States, according to the Financial Times, has been trying to keep Ankara and Riyadh from military activities in Syria as NATO is worried over the perspective of deploying Turkish troops in a country, where Russia is waging an Air Force military operation against terrorists.