ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - The people of northeast Syria (Rojava) deserve to be heard and have their aspirations recognized amid constant threats to their lives, and peace will not prevail in the Middle East without resolving the Kurdish issue, Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) leader Bafel Talabani said on Tuesday.
“In this sensitive and challenging time, we reaffirm our unwavering support for our brothers and sisters in Rojava. It is essential that we stand together, united in voice and purpose, to support their aspirations and confront the threats to their lives and stability,” Talabani, a top ally of the Rojava administration, said in a statement.
His remarks come as Turkish-backed Syrian National Army (SNA) militants launch repeated offensives against Kurdish-led forces in northern Syria, first seizing the town of Tal Rifaat as Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) militants launched a campaign that culminated with the ousting of Bashar al-Assad, and on Tuesday taking control of the northern city of Manbij.
“We deeply respect the will of the Syrian people and the decisions they make regarding their country’s future,” Talabani said, but stressed that such decisions should come in a manner that “safeguards the rights of all communities.”
The Sulaimani-based PUK and the Rojava administration share strong ties, particularly bolstered when Talabani took over the party’s presidency. The Kurdistan Region’s Counter-Terrorism Group (CTG) – unofficially linked to the PUK - has carried out several joint operations with the SDF against the Islamic State (ISIS) in Syria.
Their strong ties have drawn the ire of Turkey, which has struck several targets in Sulaimani in this regard. In September of last year, a drone strike targeted Arbat airport near Sulaimani, killing three CTG members and injuring three others. Turkey indirectly claimed responsibility for the attack by stating that the PUK’s CTG was conducting a training exercise with People’s Protection Units (YPG) fighters at the time of the attack.
Turkey considers the People’s Protection Units (YPG), the backbone of the SDF, the Syrian offshoot of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) - which has been involved in a decades-long war with Turkey.
During his speech on Monday, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that Ankara “has no eye on the territory of another country. The sole purpose of our cross-border operations is to protect our homeland and our citizens from terrorist attacks."
He added that they will also “not tolerate the emergence of new sources of terrorism beyond its borders.”
The Kurdish-led and US-backed SDF fought the lion’s share of the battle against ISIS and arrested thousands of the group’s fighters along with their wives and children when they crushed ISIS territorially and overran its last stronghold in 2019.
In a press conference on Friday, SDF General Commander Mazloum Abdi stressed that the SDF wants to resolve its problems with Ankara through a peaceful resolution to Syria’s war.
