'YPG/PKK biggest threat to Kurds after Daesh'

By Selen Temizer

ANKARA (AA) - YPG/PKK terror group poses the biggest threat to Kurds after Daesh in war-torn Syria, said the head of an opposition Syrian-Kurdish group on Tuesday.

Speaking to Istanbul-based TRT World, a Turkish news channel broadcasting in English, Abdulhakim Bashar, chairman of the Kurdish National Council in Syria (KNC) said that YPG/PKK threatened to kill him if he did not leave the country.

“The PYD/YPG/PKK is neither Kurd nor Syrian. It does not have any agenda regarding Syria or Kurds,” Bashar said.

“They have harmed Kurds more than the Assad regime,” he said, adding, “The PYD/YPG/PKK has divided Arabs and Kurds.”

The YPG/PYD is the Syrian branch of PKK, which is listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the U.S. and the EU. In its 30-year terror campaign against Turkey, the terrorist group has taken some 40,000 lives, including women and children.

Voicing his hope that the U.S. would distinguish Kurds from the YPG/PYD, Bashar said Turkey makes a distinction between them.

“Turkey has a strong and stable position over the rights of Syrian people,” he noted.

Turkish officials strongly condemned the U.S. conflation of "Kurds" with the terror group, saying a forthcoming Turkish operation in northern Syria would target the terrorist group which threatens Arabs, Turkmens, and Kurds alike in Syria.

Turkey has completed all preparation for a possible military operation East of the Euphrates River in northern Syria which Ankara said would serve territorial integrity in the war-torn country.

KNC chairman also said, "the YPG/PKK has occupied around one-third of Syria. Arabs predominantly live in the regions, where the terrorist group occupied.

“The organization, which forcibly arms youths, captures those who are opposing or resisting them."

The terrorist group also seized houses of civilians forcing them to live inhuman conditions, Bashar added.

Last week, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan held a phone call with his U.S. counterpart Donald Trump, discussing the idea of establishing a terror-free safe zone in northern Syria.