Kurdistan Street Roj Osi / Abdul Salam Ahmed, a leader in the Movement for a Democratic Society (TEV-DEM), spoke in an exclusive interview with the Kurdistan Street Network on the continuous events in the city of Hasakah and their ramifications, the arrests of members and leaders of some Kurdish political parties, and other subjects exposed in the interview with total openness and clarity.
Initially, Ahmed discussed how the government started to reorganize armed brigades from the National Defense and Baath Party from the National Defense following loss and turning their backs on the ISIS militants attacking the city in the summer 2015. He started by generating issues, detaining young men in the areas of the “Autonomous Administration” and conscripting them into obligatory military duty, and arresting Kurdish people based on their identity. As he expressed it, this resulted in the intervention of the Asayish and the People’s and Women’s Protection Units (YPG) to safeguard citizens and terminate their mistreatment.
Speaking to a Kurdistan Street correspondent, the Kurdish lawmaker further said that the People’s Protection Units (YPG) freed the city and drove ISIS fighters out of the administrative borders of Deir ez-Zor Governorate. After the Turkish government changed its position on the Syrian problem, its normalizing of relations with Russia, the shuttle diplomacy between Turkey and Iran, and Turkey’s attempts to rebuild the Syrian government, he said the regime’s latest escalation was an attempt to satisfy the Turkish government.
The YPG was also an attempt to subdue the Syrian Democratic Forces, who had freed the city of Manbij and advanced toward the territories of al-Shahba. Furthermore, Ahmed claims that the nations he referred to as “dividing Kurdistan” overlook their differences on the Kurdish issue; Turkey’s recent action is to restore its accords with these nations, which target the Kurdish national emancipation movement. They are aware that the 1999 Adana Agreement agreed by the governments of Syrian and Turkey is still in force. Under the terms of the agreement, Assad gave Turkey the Sanjak of Alexandretta in return for the repression of any Kurdish desire for emancipation and freedom—that is, for what he described as surrender.
In the framework of his conversation, he mentioned the detention of Kurdish National Council leaders under reference to the “laws of the Democratic Autonomous Administration” pointing out that no one was arrested for voicing a dissenting view and that those who broke the “laws” did not constitute an arrest. The Council failed to get the legal license controlling political party activity.
He pointed out that advocating sit-ins and meetings without a license in a region where ISIS has carried out suicide attacks…
They sparked rioting and anarchy; some of them injured onlookers, which he felt justified responsibility.
The Kurdish leader went on, saying that the Syrian Democratic Forces had a great triumph with the release of Manbij and a major accomplishment on the way the “Federation of Rojava” project is going to be implemented.
He underlined that this release will open the path for the release of the Shahba areas and the lifting of the siege on Afrin, therefore affecting ISIS and its supporters. It also touched the center of the government and the Justice and Development Government, hence they started planning conspiracies and manipulating their internal pawns as he called it.
Leading Democratic Society Movement member Abdulsalam Ahmed ended his interview with Kurdistan Street News Network by stating that, as he said, they are the main force combating terrorism thus there is currently no discussion of resuming the Geneva negotiations and any negotiating delegation will be on the list should they resume.
He attested to the fact the “Autonomous Administration” jails do not house political detainees. He claimed that detainees and inmates kept on remand for breaking laws controlling all spheres of life.