PYD: "IS that was behind the terrorist act in Istanbul"

The situation between Syria and Turkey is strained.

On November 19, Turkey launched a new military offensive against Kurdish areas in Syria after Ankara singled out the PKK and PYD as responsible for the terrorist attack in Istanbul six days earlier. 

Turkey regularly equates the PKK - which is labeled a terrorist by Turkey, the US and the EU - with the PYD, which is the largest political organization among Kurds in Syria. 

The Kurdish leader: An excuse to attack

According to Salih Muslim, party leader of the PYD, the Kurdish party in northern Syria, the answer to who carried out the attack is clear: it is IS.

And Sweden should know that, he says in SVT's 30 minutes. 

- They [Turkey] are creating an excuse to attack our areas, he says. 

Turkish Interior Minister Süleyman Soylu said after the attack that the woman suspected of being behind the attack received her order from Kobane.

According to him, it is also in Kobane that the PKK has its headquarters.

According to Salih Muslim, however, the woman is related to a family that joined IS. 

- Three of her brothers were killed in the attacks in Raqqa and Iraq.

Another one of her brothers is the commander of a jihadist facility under Turkish control, he states in SVT's 30 minutes.

Hear Salih Muslim explain why he believes IS is responsible for the Istanbul terror attack in the video above.