Abdullah Öcalan, the jailed ringleader of the PKK terrorist group, said in a statement released on Tuesday that a deal between the PKK’s Syrian wing, YPG, and Damascus should be implemented. Öcalan, in his message published on the website of the Peoples’ Equality and Democracy Party (DEM Party), also urged Türkiye to play “a facilitating, constructive role in the process.”
“It is crucial for regional peace and achieving (Türkiye’s own) internal peace,” he said in the message on the occasion of the new year.
The terrorist leader, however, appeared to side with the YPG in terms of the March 10 agreement, noting that the basic demand of the YPG was “a democratic political model where people can govern themselves,” a nod to the decentralization demands of the PKK’s Syrian wing. The agreement has been jeopardized due to YPG’s insistence on the concept, in a bid to keep its self-styled autonomous administration in northeastern Syria. Damascus, which sought integration of armed YPG members into the security forces of post-Assad Syria, rejects decentralization demands.
Öcalan has been a key actor in the terror-free Türkiye initiative that involves the disarmament of the PKK. The YPG did not join the initiative that began last February when Öcalan made a historic call to the terrorist group to dissolve itself.
Türkiye, which suffered multiple YPG attacks in the past years, especially on border towns, is on the same page with Damascus for the group’s integration, and has repeatedly warned the terrorist group that it may face military action if it fails to do so.
Syria on Friday said talks to integrate the YPG into the state have made no progress, even as the group’s leader insisted efforts are underway to keep the landmark deal with Damascus from collapsing and that failure was unlikely. YPG leader Ferhat Abdi Şahin’s remarks came days after Aleppo saw deadly clashes between the two sides before their respective leaders ordered a cease-fire.
The YPG occupies large swathes of the country's oil-rich north and northeast, and enjoys the support of Washington under the pretext of fighting an international coalition against Daesh terrorists. Türkiye, an important ally of Syria's new leaders, sees the presence of the YPG on its border as a security threat.
In Damascus last week, Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan stressed the importance of the YPG’s integration, having warned the week before that patience with the YPG "is running out."
Meanwhile, Damascus said the negotiations with the YPG have yielded “no concrete results so far.”
A Syrian Foreign Ministry source on Friday told Syria’s state-run SANA news agency that the YPG’s statements regarding integration have so far remained “theoretical, with no concrete steps or clear timelines.”
The source said that despite the YPG's statements about ongoing dialogue with Damascus, talks have not produced concrete results on the ground, arguing that these statements are mostly used for “media purposes and to reduce political pressure.”
