PKK's Syrian offshoot PYD hints at occupying Raqqa in post-Daesh future

The outlawed terrorist PKK's Syrian offshoot the Democratic Union Party's (PYD), on Monday hinted that, once liberated, it would treat Raqqa, a predominantly Arab Syrian town, as part of its territory.

Raqqa, currently held by Daesh and regarded as the group's capital in Syria, is the focus of an ongoing campaign by the U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), which is led by the PYD's armed wing, the People's Protection Units (YPG).

Saleh Muslim, a co-chair of the PYD, on Monday said it would be up to the people of Raqqa to decide their future once the city is freed from Daesh, but he thinks the city will join the "democratic federal" system.

"We expect [this], because our project is for all of Syria... and Raqqa should be a part of it," Muslim said in a telephone interview.

He added that Raqqa needed to be in "friendly hands," otherwise it would form a "danger to all of Syria — particularly northern Syria, the federal system of northern Syria, the areas of self-administration."

Ankara, however, has all through advocated that Syrian territorial integrity must be protected and divisions must not be allowed, particularly when terrorist groups were involved.

The YPG, present in northern Syria along the border of Turkey, has become a matter of disagreement between Ankara and Washington, as Turkey argues that the terrorist group's main goal is to establish a decentralized system of government in the areas captured from Daesh.

Turkey considers the PYD and its armed wing, the YPG, as terror threats and believes that these organizations are offshoots of the PKK, which is officially recognized as a terrorist organization by the U.S., the EU and Turkey. The EU and the U.S., however, do not recognize the PYD or the YPG as terrorist organizations. Turkey strongly opposes the presence of any PKK-affiliated groups south of its border, both in Iraq and Syria, saying it constitutes a threat to its national security.

The PYD has long been criticized by the locals, as well as by human rights groups, for forcefully relocating Arabs and Turkmens from areas recaptured from Daesh, while oppressing any Kurdish political rivals.

In addition, the PYD still remains in Manbij after it was recaptured from Daesh, despite the U.S. saying it will withdraw from the town and move to the area east of the Euphrates River.

The PYD and PKK are trying to combine the self-declared Afrin canton in the northwest corner of Syria with the Kobani and Jazeera cantons in the northeast, but Turkey and Syrian opposition groups, fighting for the unity of Syria have been trying to block the PKK affiliates' separatist motivations.