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A Syrian government official on Thursday emphasized the need for national unity as the country is in talks with the PKK’s Syrian wing, the YPG, for integration.
Speaking to Syria’s official state television channel, Al-Ikhbariyya, the official said that they would not accept the YPG’s request to join the national army as a bloc without fully integrating into it.
He said that calls for an independent identity are against the citizenship principle and would not be accepted.
The official added that national dialogue should be carried out not by force of arms or by relying on external forces, but on the basis of full commitment to the unity of the country.
He said the government rejected the possibilities of not leaving arms or entering the national army as a military bloc.
The YPG is the Syrian wing of the PKK, which started laying down arms after decades of violence, as part of the terror-free Türkiye initiative launched last year. The group was openly supported by the U.S., which had designated the PKK as a terrorist group years ago. Washington justified the armament of the YPG as part of its alliance with the YPG against another terrorist group, Daesh.
The YPG has been reluctant to join the PKK to abandon arms, while Ankara hopes that even if it does not join the PKK, it may integrate itself into the new Syrian army and therefore, cease its existence.
The YPG signed a deal with the new administration in Damascus in the wake of the fall of the Baathist regime last December for integration, but the deal showed little progress as the YPG repeatedly voiced its demand for a “decentralized” administration in the country, hoping to keep its self-styled autonomous entity in northeastern Syria intact. Damascus staunchly opposes it.
YPG detains 11 soldiers
Meanwhile, the YPG detained 11 Syrian soldiers in northern Aleppo province on the same day.
Syrian security sources speaking to Anadolu Agency (AA) said the group detained the soldiers who were crossing Aleppo’s southern Manbij district’s Deir Hafir region.
The YPG had transferred terrorists and weapons from the occupied Raqqa province to the Deir Hafir line during the clashes in the southern Suwayda province of the country.
