🔴 PKK's Murat Karayilan denies group's presence in northern Syria
📌Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) executive committee member Murat Karayılan has denied claims of PKK presence in N&E Syria, saying Turkey is using this as a pretext to legitimise military attacks on the region.… pic.twitter.com/n0rL2yuBVm
— MedyaNews (@medyanews_) December 18, 2024
Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) executive committee member Murat Karayılan highlights dangers and opportunities arising from the latest developments in Syria, and denies claims of the presence of the PKK in North and East Syria (Rojava), during a broadcast on the Kurdish channel Stêrk TV.
Karayılan speaks of the importance of freedom for the imprisoned PKK leader Abdullah Öcalan, who has recently repeated his assertion that he can bring about a peaceful solution to the Kurdish question if the Turkish state supplies the necessary conditions. “I am not talking about conditions for myself, but for a solution to emerge,” Öcalan said during a meeting with his nephew Ömer Öcalan on 23 October, after more than 43 months totally incommunicado.
Analysing the recent fall of the Syrian regime under Bashar al-Assad, Karayılan gives two main reasons he believes contributed to the rapid collapse of the regime. The first, he says, was the regime’s refusal to transform into a democracy and its insistence on a “policy of violence”.
The second reason he gives was the “redesigning of Syria”, referring to interests of different local and international forces like Turkey, Israel, the US, Russia and the UK, whom he claims have all been involved in the recent conflicts.
He said that there was a plan between the international powers, the main goal of which was the elimination of threats against Israel, that Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham (HTS) was less of a threat than the Syrian regime, and so was allowed to conduct its assault on Damascus and topple the regime so quickly.
However, Karayılan says that the “greatest danger” to Syria’s sovereignty is the Turkish state with its view that the recent developments there are a “Sunni-Islamic revolution” which it sees as “its own success”.
Turkey’s main goal is to ensure “that Kurds have no status in Syria”, Karayılan said, recalling how “a third of Syria is now under the control of Kurds, Arabs and Assyrian people”, referring to the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES). He also notes that Turkey will continue to carry out military attacks against the AANES-controlled region because it is concerned that Kurds in Turkey may see their model as an example to follow towards independent status for themselves.
Karayılan calls for unity among the Kurdish people and political organisations, saying that “national interest should be prioritised over the interests of organisations”. “No-one should obstruct a platform where different thoughts and ideologies are represented,” he stressed.
Referring to claims about PKK presence in North and East Syria, Karayılan draws a parallel with the way the Turkish state uses PKK membership or links to the PKK as a pretext to arrest and attack Kurdish people in Turkey, giving examples of People’s Democracy and Equality (DEM) Party and even Republican People’s Party (CHP) politicians such as Ahmet Özer, Mayor of İstanbul’s Esenyurt district, to illustrate the point.
Turkey is applying the same logic to justify its military attacks on North and East Syria, Karayılan claims, and stresses that “We PKK are not present in Rojava” and that the PKK has no “natural relations or organisational links with any [other]organisation” in North and East Syria.
Karayılan continues to explain that though people in North and East Syria organise themselves according to the “philosophy of Rêber Apo [PKK leader Abdullah Öcalan]”, there now are people all over the world in countries such as Argentina and Pakistan that are organising themselves according to this paradigm, which “does not mean that they are all members of the PKK”.
The PKK executive also outlined the clear connection between the Turkish state and the Syrian National Army (SNA), quoting Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) General Commander Mazloum Abdi, who had said during recent talks between the SDF and the SNA on a ceasefire in northern Syria, that the SNA had clearly told the SDF that they could not make any decisions “on their own”, but would have to “talk to the Turkish state first”.
Highlighting the special role the AANES will have in the building of a new Syria, he refers to the administration as a “flower in the desert” noting that it is “an example of a type of democracy that has been achieved in North and East Syria within the last 9-10 years”.
Concluding, Karayılan underlines that “an important and historical process” is taking place in Syria, which is at the same time “a great danger and a great opportunity” for its people. He addresses the people of North and East Syria, mentioning its Assyrian, Christian and Armenian people in particular, saying they should “prepare themselves, organise themselves and be prepared for all kind of attacks”.
