Türkiye on Thursday repeated its warning that the PKK terrorist group’s Syrian offshoot YPG’s plans to hold so-called “local elections” must be canceled altogether.
“Both President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Defense Minister (Yaşar Güler) have previously warned that these so-called elections must not be held,” Defense Ministry sources said.
“These elections the terrorist group wants to conduct are against the U.N. Security Council’s resolution 2254 and Syria’s territorial integrity,” sources added.
UNSC 2254 expresses support for a Syrian-led political process facilitated by the U.N.
The PKK/YPG’s plans to hold so-called elections in several northern Syrian regions from Deir el-Zour and Raqqa to Manbij and Afrin, have angered Ankara.
The terrorist group has postponed the elections from June 11 to August 2024 due to what sources have called “intense external pressure.” The U.S., known for its staunch support for the PKK/YPG, also warned against the elections, saying the conditions were “not feasible.”
For Türkiye, the move is the first step to establishing a “PKK-run state” in Syria’s north, immediately across the border. Ankara has repeatedly highlighted that the election is also a threat to the territorial integrity of Syria, which has been mired in a civil war since 2011.
The PKK/YPG has occupied a large chunk of Syria’s northern regions – populated by Arab tribes and Syrian Kurds and home to rich oil wells – with the support of the U.S. in 2015. It has been kidnapping children for forced recruitment and extorting residents under the pretext of “tax” in said occupied territories, forcing many to migrate to the Turkish border.
Residents of districts like Manbij, whose lands were occupied by the PKK/YPG eight years ago, are among staunch opponents of the elections, too. Believing that the move aims to divide the country, they have increasingly protested the group’s “elections.”
Ankara, which has troops inside northern Syria backing the Assad regime’s opposition, has pursued diplomatic talks to prevent the elections and has emphasized that it would endanger border security and regional peace.
Turkish forces also routinely clash with the PKK/YPG in the region, where the group seeks to establish a terror corridor along the country’s border.
President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan earlier in March warned Ankara was preparing for a “final offensive” in Syria, as well as northern Iraq’s Qandil mountains where PKK has its stronghold, this summer.
