PYD/PKK declares Kurdish people ‘enemy’ over criticism

By Mucahit Turetken

ISTANBUL

A Kurdish Syrian politician on Wednesday said PYD/PKK terrorists declare Kurdish people enemy for criticizing the group.

Siamend Hajo, the president of the Kurdish Future Movement, was speaking at a panel discussion organized by the Foundation of Political, Economic and Social Research (SETA).

“They never allow any group which defends a different point of view,” Hajo said.

He said if PYD/PKK was “democratic and work for the interests of the people,” more than 800,000 people would not have left the region of 2.5 million people.

Eva Savelsberg, chairperson of the Berlin-based European Center for Kurdish Studies, talked about the PYD/PKK’s human rights violations and the support which they receive from the West.

Savelsberg said that the most part of the West sees the PYD/PKK as “democratic and respected”.

“People do not see human rights violations. When you talk to analysts in Europe and especially in Germany, they argue that even though the PYD is not good, they have some kind of stability in the Kurdish region,” she said.

The PKK is listed as a terrorist group by the U.S., EU, and Turkey.

The U.S. has long supported the PYD/PKK as a “reliable ally” in its fight against Daesh, over the strong objections of Ankara, which has documented that it is the Syrian branch of the terrorist PKK.

On Jan. 20, Turkey launched Operation Olive Branch along with the Free Syrian Army (FSA) to clear PYD/PKK and Daesh terrorists from Afrin, northwestern Syria.

According to the Turkish General Staff, the operation aims to establish security and stability along Turkey’s borders and the region as well as to protect Syrians from terrorist oppression and cruelty.

The operation is being carried out under the framework of Turkey's rights based on international law, UN Security Council resolutions, its self-defense rights under the UN charter, and respect for Syria's territorial integrity, it said.

The military also said only terror targets are being destroyed and that "utmost care" is being put on avoiding harming civilians.