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Ilham Ahmed, a senior leader of the U.S.-backed terrorist group YPG in Syria, said they would not join the PKK for disarmament and said they would continue advocating “decentralization” in the post-Assad country.
Her comments to Rudaw are likely to anger Ankara, which is worried about the security risk the YPG poses at a time of expected dissolution of its parent terrorist group PKK.
The YPG controls parts of northeastern Syria since the civil war broke out in Türkiye’s southern neighbor more than a decade ago. Türkiye launched a cross-border offensive during the civil war to limit the expansion of the YPG and succeeded in confining it to a narrower area. After the fall of the Assad regime last December, the terrorist group, which is called the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) by its main partner United States, managed to negotiate a deal with the new administration in Damascus. The deal, which involves integration of the YPG into the new army of the country, is not final and Ahmed insisted that it was not “a bargain.”
In an interview published on Rudaw’s website on Monday, Ahmed said Damascus sought to “take them over” and they would not “submit.” She acknowledged that they would be integrated into the Syrian army as stipulated in a March 10 deal between Syria’s interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa and YPG leader Ferhat Abdi Şahin, but insisted that it would be based on “mutual recognition.” The YPG, which enjoyed immense U.S. military support, wants to keep its so-called autonomous “canton” situated across the Turkish border. Ahmed reiterated this stance and said they were willing to leave “some services” to Damascus’ control, “such as borders and foreign policy.”
An “autonomous” region controlled by a terrorist entity is a major threat to Türkiye, which suffered cross-border rocket attacks by the YPG in the past, as well as terror attacks by YPG members who infiltrated into the country.
On a question whether the PKK’s jailed ringleader Abdullah Öcalan asked them to lay down arms as he called upon the terrorist group, Ahmed dodged the question but flatly said disarmament was “out of question” for them, claiming it would be a “suicide” for them to lay down arms at a time of “massacres” in Syria.
