By Esref Musa
TEL ABYAD, Syria (AA) - A Syrian Kurdish politician strongly condemned plans by the PKK/PYD to hold so-called elections in northeastern Syria, calling the terrorist group a “foreign, usurping, and occupying structure.”
Speaking with Anadolu, Mohammad al-Issa said that they do not recognize the planned so-called elections, the "autonomous administration" in the region, or the parties set to take part in the so-called elections, which were recently postponed for a second time.
“I do not want to play the role of opposition to this illegitimate authority. They have no base and exist only through the power of arms,” said al-Issa, a member of the Syrian Kurdish Independents, a part of the Syrian National Coalition of Syrian Revolution and Opposition Forces.
Stressing that all the parties set to take part in the elections are affiliated with the terrorist group PYD/PKK, he said: "In reality, these are family projects, even one-person parties. If you ask anyone in Kobani or Qamishli, no one knows them. The PKK provides these parties with support ranging from $2,000 to $2,500 a month."
Al-Issa emphasized that the Kurdish people’s representative, the Kurdish National Council, refused to take part in the planned elections.
Al-Issa said he was a founding member of the council in 2011 and served as the head of its Ayn al-Arab district office in 2013.
He sought refuge in Türkiye due to terrorist PKK/YPG threats seven months before Ayn al-Arab (Kobani) was captured by the terrorist group Daesh/ISIS around 2014-2015.
The terrorist group PKK/YPG, which planned to hold so-called local elections in the territories it occupies in Syria, this week was forced to postpone the vote following Türkiye's warnings that it will not allow the establishment of a terrorist state in the region.
In a post on the so-called civil administration's Facebook account, the group announced that the so-called local elections, previously scheduled for June 11 in the occupied territories, have been postponed to Aug. 18.
In its nearly 40-year terror campaign against Türkiye, the PKK – listed as a terrorist organization by Türkiye, the US, and the EU – has been responsible for the deaths of more than 40,000 people, including women, children, and infants. The YPG, also known as the PYD, is the PKK’s Syrian offshoot.
- Separatist plans
Al-Issa said he believes the terrorist group is marketing itself under the guise of an “autonomous administration” to promote a future plan to divide Syria into three parts.
“These projects are foreign and far from the interests of the Kurdish people. We are part of the Syrian people. We believe in the unity of Syrian lands and people,” he said.
Democracy cannot be achieved in Syria, nor can human rights be established unless all ethnic groups, including Kurds, Turkmens, and Syriacs, are respected, he added.
“Some young people within the revolution and the opposition believe that the PYD and PKK are two different parties. They think that the PKK is outside of Syria, while the PYD is inside Syria. This is a misunderstanding,” he said.
He explained that late Syrian leader Hafez al-Assad supported the PKK to suppress the country’s Kurdish opposition and destabilize the Turkish-Syrian borders and that his son, current regime leader Bashar Assad, continued this by giving space to the PYD/PKK to prevent Kurdish youth from interacting with the Syrian revolution.
“Kurds saw themselves as part of the revolution. At that time, there were no more than 15 Kurdish parties. Most Kurdish parties stood by the Syrian people at the beginning of the revolution.”
Al-Issa said that after this, the Assad regime cooperated with PYD/PKK with meetings involving representatives from the PKK, Iran’s Revolutionary Guard intelligence, and the Assad regime.
“The PKK is an organization without a national cause, crossing borders. Their sole purpose is to destabilize the Syrian geography, replacing Arabs with Kurds in the regions.”
- 'US tactic'
He stated that the terrorist group PKK is known as the PYD in Syria, a move he attributes to the US, a ploy to gain legitimacy by recruiting Kurds, Arabs, and Armenians.
He believes the US wants to turn the PYD/PKK into a "local Kurdish party.”
"But we know that the PYD administration is full of people from the senior ranks of the PKK. All remaining structures like local councils and heads of government are ineffective.”
He explained that the terrorist PKK/PYD wants to spread to regions with a large Arab population, stating that it is unacceptable for this entity to dominate Deir ez-Zor, where Arabs are in the majority.
He added that the problems faced by the Kurds in Syria cannot be separated from the general solution that the Syrian people would accept.
"We believe in the unity of the Syrian people and lands. The national rights of the Kurdish people cannot be achieved without democracy and civil peace,” al-Issa said.
Saying that the terrorist group is engaging in political cleansing in Syria, he said: "They declare war on anyone who supports revolution."
*Writing by Seda Sevencan in Istanbul