25 January 2018•Update: 26 January 2018
By Izzet Mazi
KILIS, Turkey
The PYD/PKK terrorist organization evoked painful memories for a Syrian family by carrying out a rocket attack in a southeastern Turkish town, where their current home is located.
Neda Ahmar, the 51-year-old mother of the family, was enjoying a cup of tea with her family when a PYD/PKK rocket projectile fired from Syria hit the roof of their home in Turkey’s border province of Kilis.
They are trying to get over the traumatic effect of the incident with the full support of officials and their neighbors.
The family left its homeland Syria for Turkey five years ago due to the civil war, Ahmar said and expressed her love for Kilis, the place they now called “home”.
“I have never left Kilis since we came from Syria, and I will never leave it; Kilis is my homeland,” the Syrian mother told Anadolu Agency in an exclusive interview.
Talking about their new life in Turkey, Ahmar said they were grateful for the living conditions in Turkey.
"There was war in Syria. We came here so that we could be at ease a little, but this has happened to us here.
“We were comfortable here, my children were attending school, we used the hospitals, and we had no problems," she said, blaming the U.S. and the PKK for all of what was happening now.
She said everything had become topsy-turvy with the totally unexpected landing of the rocket on their home, adding, however, that all the officials in town rushed to help them.
“We experienced war once in Syria, and we don’t want it here,” Ahmar added.
Since Turkey launched Operation Olive Branch on Saturday to clear PYD/PKK and Daesh terrorists from Afrin in northwestern Syria, the terror group has carried out cross-border attacks on Turkey.
Most recently, a PYD/PKK rocket attack from Syria killed two civilians and injured six others when it hit a mosque at prayer time in Kilis on Wednesday.
Operation Olive Branch is being carried out under the framework of Turkey's rights based on international law, UN Security Council resolutions, its self-defense rights under the UN charter, and respect for Syria's territorial integrity, a recent Turkish military statement explained.
The military has repeatedly said that only terrorist targets are being destroyed and "utmost importance" is being put on not harming any civilians.
Afrin has been a major hideout for the PYD/PKK since July 2012, when the Assad regime in Syria left the city to the terror group without putting up a fight.
