By Faruk Hanedar and Muhammed Yusuf
ISTANBUL (AA) - The so-called elections planned to be held by the terrorist group PKK’s Syrian wing YPG in northern Syria are “doomed to fail,” a Syrian Kurdish National Council (ENKS) official said on Tuesday.
Abdullah Qeddo told Anadolu that the terrorist group has recently abducted prominent figures in the region, particularly journalists affiliated with ENKS and even children in music and theater groups.
He said that terrorists have also recently attacked and burned ENKS offices.
The ENKS is considered one of the components of the Syrian opposition against Syria’s Bashar al-Assad and has boycotted YPG’s so-called local elections.
Qeddo said that YPG “does not accept the participation of neither Kurds nor Arabs,” adding that the terror group is “holding the elections to gain legitimacy.”
- Famine in region as ‘protests continue at full speed’
The official also emphasized that the terrorist group’s policies were rejected by the locals, and that these policies caused famine and that farmers have organized protests against this situation.
He said that the people have opposed the so-called local elections and that the terror group has threatened people and told them that they would not be able to buy bread and bottled gas unless they got a voter card indicating their participation in the elections.
"There is a famine in the region and demonstrations, protests and rejections continue at full speed; farmers are being detained," he said.
- Reason for ENKS’ boycott of elections
Stating that they do not recognize the so-called autonomous administration run by YPG/PKK terrorists, Qeddo said: "We do not recognize the autonomous administration. The staff and members of ENKS refused to recognize the autonomous administration even in their courts. We absolutely do not recognize their elections and of course, we reject them."
Qeddo also emphasized that the terrorist organization wanted to retain complete economic, military and political power, but ENKS rejected this and said that all segments of the Syrian society should be included in power sharing.
Regarding the reason for ENKS's boycott of the elections, Qeddo said: "ENKS's reason for boycotting is that these elections are only PYD's elections and its authority does not represent us. I said that we do not recognize this plan, it is unreasonable for us to legitimize them in this way when we are outside the decision-making mechanism.”
“Of course, we reject the elections and we refuse to recognize those who made and supervised these elections. These elections are very similar to regime elections, the outcome of which is predetermined,” he said, referring to the Assad regime.
Qeddo pointed out that with the poor education system in the region, a curriculum is imposed on children and people are forced to do compulsory military service.
Underlining that even at a small village level, the opinions of all people there should be taken into consideration, he said no one party should hold all power.
“I think that the Syrian people will reject all these authorities that do not originate from the territorial integrity of Syria's national foundation. Kurds, Assyrians, Turkmens, Arabs and all segments of the populace want Syria to have territorial integrity,” Qeddo said.
“Of course, currently, the Geneva Conference and its annexes, especially UN resolutions 2254 and 2118, are the basic decisions adopted unanimously to develop a solution to the interim government, elections, constitution and the situation in Syria. There is a situation of violation and persecution, especially against ENKS,” he said.
“There are serious human rights violations against all components, especially the Kurdish components and ENKS. Anyway, the (so-called) elections are doomed to fail. Our European and American friends also know this," he said.