DAMASCUS

A group of Syrians held a protest against the terrorist group PKK/YPG after Friday prayers at the Umayyad Mosque in the Syrian capital Damascus.

Civilians gathered after Friday prayers in front of the Umayyad Mosque and demonstrated against the terrorist group, which uses the name SDF in Syria.

Among the slogans chanted during the protest were “We are the children of this country, we want the PKK to leave our country”, “Let the murderous SDF fall” and “Those under the SDF cannot represent us.”

Hamid Ali, a protester, told Anadolu that the terrorist organization continued its violations in the regions it occupied for 8 years.

“They massacred children, closed roads, there is no electricity. Where is the oil going? Oil is the wealth of this country. We want them to distribute this wealth to the people,” he said.

Ali said that people in the PKK/YPG-occupied areas are unable to leave their homes in the evenings and added: “They capture those who go out after 20:00 in the evening and take them under their fold.”

Emphasizing that they want the terrorist organization PKK/YPG to leave Syria, Ali said, “We want peace. Not the disintegration of the country.”

Ali Shabani, a resident of Aleppo who also participated in the protest, said: “They (YPG/PKK terror group) committed many crimes against us. It is unspeakable. All the lands have been liberated, but they are still there (east of the Euphrates).”

Shabani called for the liberation of their region from the occupation of the terror group.

Abdulkerim al-Hashimi, one of the protesters, said: “The PKK is a terrorist organization … They have been massacring our Muslim brothers and sisters in Türkiye for 50 years.”

Underlining that the PKK/YPG is a terrorist organization that must be eliminated, Hashimi said that ISIS (Daesh) and PKK/YPG terror groups are “on the same path and have the same approach.”

He said that these terrorist organizations came from all over the world to destroy peace, adding: “They have no land. They came to us from Mount Qandil. Syria will not be divided, Türkiye will not be divided, Syrian and Turkish people are one, they are Muslims and brothers. We will fight against this deviant organization for our children, our money and everything we have.

“Honorable Kurds have nothing to do with them (PKK/YPG). The honorable Kurds reject this group,” Hashimi said.

*Writing by Efe Ozkan