AANES official confirms that relations with Sweden and Finland will continue

The top official of the Autonomus Administration of North and East Syria (AANES) said after a deal between Turkey, Sweden and Finland that their good relations with the two Nordic countries will continue.

Speaking to Hawar News (ANHA), Ilham Ahmed, the chair of the Executive Committee of the Syrian Democratic Council (SDC), said:

"We have good relations with Sweden and Finland. They have provided humanitarian aid to us through the Global Coalition against the Islamic State. Our relations will continue, particularly in the context of combating terror. Thousands of ISIS affiliates are currently incarcerated in prisons under the control of the AANES. The members of the Global Coalition should now assume more responsibility than before. They should not avoid their responsibilites in the face of Turkish administration's threats. This is also an issue of national security for them."

Ahmed also commented on the state of emergency recently declared by the AANES:

"The state of emergency has been declared against possible attacks for further invasion. These are not temporary measures and shall be extended, because we are now faced with a global war and we need to take measures in all fields."

The trilateral memorandum

A memorandum was signed on 28 June during the NATO summit in Spain by Turkey, Sweden and Finland as part of a deal for having Turkey drop its objection to the accession of the two Nordic countries to NATO in exchange for their commitment to prosecute and extradite Kurdish activists with alleged ties to the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), not provide support to the People's Protection Units (YPG) in north Syria, and lift arms embargoes imposed on Turkey after its occupation of parts of north Syria in 2019.

YPG constitutes the major component of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), the armed force of the AANES, and it is viewed by the Turkish administration as an extension of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), who has been waging an armed struggle against Turkish forces since early 1980s.

The assurance by Sweden and Finland not to provide support to the YPG has led to questions whether it implies a further impact on the relations between the two countries and the AANES.