The threat posed by the PKK terrorist group to Syria is of greater concern than ever, Türkiye’s U.N. ambassador warned Wednesday.
“The continued presence of terrorist organizations in Syria poses a vital threat to this country and its neighbors, primarily Türkiye, as well as the wider region,” Sedat Önal said at a U.N. Security Council session on Syria.
“In fact, the threat of PKK terrorism to Syria’s territorial integrity has never been more alarming than it is today,” said Önal.
The envoy cited recent clashes between Arab tribes and the PKK/YPG in eastern Syria, saying they proved that the PKK’s activities and the external support it receives are “a major source of instability” in the war-torn country.
“The oppressive and discriminatory practices and human rights violations of this terrorist organization are a matter of public knowledge now and have also been extensively reported by the U.N.,” he added.
Önal said that Türkiye calls on all parties to adopt a comprehensive and long-term approach and distance themselves from those separatist entities, which he said do not have any place in the future of Syria.
Önal also said that Türkiye will take measures against direct and imminent threats posed to its national security by terrorist organizations operating in Syria.
“As such, we will continue to exercise our inherent right of self-defense as outlined in Article 51 of the U.N. Charter and relevant U.N. Security Council resolutions,” he said.
The YPG is the Syrian offshoot of the PKK, recognized as a terrorist group by the United States, Türkiye and the European Union. However, Washington calls the YPG its biggest ally in driving Daesh, another terrorist group, out of Syria’s north and east over the last four years.
Taking advantage of the power vacuum created by the Syrian civil war in 2011 and with Washington’s help, the PKK/YPG has since 2015 occupied several Syrian provinces, including Arab-majority Deir el-Zour, a resource-rich region bordering Iraq, bisected by the Euphrates River and home to dozens of tribal communities.
The terrorist group has forced many locals to migrate, bringing in its militants to change the regional demographic structure, conducting arbitrary arrests, kidnapping children of local tribes for forced recruitment and assassinating tribe leaders to yoke local groups.
It has also seized the region’s oil wells – Syria’s largest – and smuggles oil to the Syrian regime, despite U.S. sanctions, to generate revenue for its activities.
These tribes have been increasingly fighting against the PKK/YPG’s oppressive policies, a resistance that snowballed into armed clashes last month between the terrorists and Arab fighters.
Earlier this week, clashes erupted again between the PKK/YPG and Arab tribes, two weeks after 10 days of fighting that left 90 dead, including 25 PKK/YPG terrorists, 29 members of Arab tribal groups and gunmen, as well as nine civilians. The fighting began after pro-regime fighters crossed the Euphrates River – separating regime forces in southwestern Deir el-Zour from the PKK/YPG in the northeast – and the PKK/YPG kidnapped a local Arab military commander who had previously been an ally.
Meanwhile, Türkiye, which has troops inside Syria, and Turkish-backed opposition groups in Syria’s northwest routinely clash with the PKK/YPG, which seeks to establish a terror corridor along the country’s border.
Since 2016, Türkiye has carried out successive ground operations – Euphrates Shield in 2016, Olive Branch in 2018 and Peace Spring in 2019 – to expel the PKK/YPG and Daesh forces from border areas of northern Syria, as well as Iraq and to enable the peaceful settlement of residents.
Ankara has also repeatedly called on its NATO ally to cut off support to the PKK/YPG, something heavily weighing on bilateral relations.
