PKK/PYD must be on UN terrorist list: Syria opposition

By Mohamed Sheikh Yusuf and Adham Kako

ANKARA

Representatives of Syria's armed opposition have urged UN envoy Staffan de Mistura to blacklist the PYD -- the PKK terrorist group's Syrian affiliate -- in light of the group's many crimes and abuses.

Last Friday, as the eighth round of Syria peace wrapped up in Kazakh capital Astana, opposition representatives issued a 44-page report detailing the PKK/PYD’s close links with Syria’s Assad regime.

On the same day, the opposition provided de Mistura with a copy of the report, calling for the PKK/PYD to be added to the UN's list of known terrorist organizations.

According to the report, the PKK/PYD has committed numerous war crimes in Syria -- including massacres -- in blatant disregard of international law.

"Given what the PYD has done in Syria and its deep ties to the PKK, which Turkey, the U.S. and the EU all view as a terrorist group, it should be recognized globally as a terror organization,” the report, of which Anadolu Agency has obtained a copy, said.

The report also details the PKK/PYD’s practice of recruiting children as soldiers and committing rights abuses against non-combatants.

The report goes on to say that the PKK/PYD worked to eliminate Kurdish opposition and "revolutionary" groups who had initially joined the popular uprising against the Assad regime in 2011.

In 2012, the report notes, certain high-ranking Kurdish officials -- who had defected earlier from the Assad regime -- were eliminated by the PKK/PYD.

Partners in crime

According to the same report, the handover of Al-Hasakah, a town in northeastern Syria, by regime forces to the PKK/PYD constituted further evidence of the close ties between the Assad regime and the terrorist group.

The opposition report further says that, while in Al-Hasakah, PKK/PYD militants killed a number of the town's civilian residents without justification.

Alexander Lavrentiev, Moscow's envoy to Syria, recently said he did "not foresee" a role for the terrorist group at next year's scheduled peace talks in Sochi.