Muslim: "Ankara wants to fight against Kurds with the help of Damascus"

The co-chair of the pro-Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD) in Syria said that the resistance of Kurds in the face of Turkish incursions forced Ankara to seek reconciliation with Damascus.

Responding to questions on Rojava TV on Wednesday, Salih Muslim noted that Turkish administrations have been trying to suppress Kurds since the foundation of the Turkish Republic, and it has been doing this with the weapons of NATO since it joined the Alliance.

"We had hopes that NATO would put an end to this, but they haven't been able to stop the Turkish administration, who managed to make several moves in the NATO summit in Madrid," he said.

He stated that the opposition by Russia and Iran against a Turkish military campaign to occupy Shahba and Manbij in Northern Syria was neither out of concern for Kurds, nor was it a moral objection.

"They objected to Turkey's campaign because it was unacceptable both for Iran and the Syrian regime. Such a campaign would lead to the encirclement of the city of Aleppo," he said.

He also asserted that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan totally surrendered to Russian President Vladimir Putin in their latest meeting in Sochi on 5 August, and that Erdogan would no more try to juggle between Russia and the United States.

Muslim called upon the Syrian administration to show respect to Syrian people. He said:

"Their policy against the Syrian people is not fair. The Syrian people fought, under the Syrian Democratic Forces, against the Islamic State. Now they are resisting against Turkish incursions."

He added:

"The Syrian regime and the Turkish administration will not be able to reach an agreement. Half a million Syrians were killed in the civil war. Who is responsible for this? The sole responsibility lies on the Turkish administration. Even now, armed gangs are killing Syrians in occupied territories. The only agreement that the two regimes can reach is to leave everything behind and fight against Kurds. This is what the Turkish administration wants. If the Syrian regime consents to this, it will mean suicide. It is our struggle in North and East Syria that has pushed the Turkish administration to this point, forced it to make concessions, and left it no choice but to beg Damascus."