Syria Kurdish party appeals to world against Turkish threats

BEIRUT – Syria's dominant Kurdish party is appealing on the international community to help ensure the security of a Syrian Kurdish enclave threatened by Turkey.

Ankara has threatened to launch an imminent military operation on the northwestern Kurdish enclave of Afrin, where an estimated 1 million people live.

The Kurdish Democratic Union Party, or PYD, is the political arm of the U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces, which currently control nearly 25 percent of Syrian territory.

The PYD says in Wednesday's appeal that, should Turkey launch the operation, the world will bear responsibility for the lives of the people in the enclave.

Ankara views Syrian Kurdish forces — the PYD and the affiliated militia — as an extension of its own insurgents whom it labels as terrorists and who are fighting within Turkey's borders.