Assayish forces of PYD deny Syria Kurds access into Turkey

07-04-2014 –  ARA News – Nusaybin, Turkey− Security forces of the Assayish (who are in control over Kobane’s border crossing with Turkey) prevented a number of Syrian Kurdish families from entering Turkey last week.The Assayish forces −affiliated with the Democratic Union Party (PYD)− have reportedly imposed strict procedures on those intending to cross the borders into Turkey.As the al-Qaeda splinter group of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) besieged the predominantly Kurdish city of Kobane about three weeks ago, many families attempt to escape the deteriorating humanitarian situation in the city by crossing the borders into Turkey −which currently forms the only vent out of Kobane, as all roads leading to other Syrian areas are blocked by ISIL fighters.

Birasoz Welat, human rights activist based in Kobane city, told ARA News that the Asayish intensified patrols alongside Kobane’s border with turkey.  “Many people have been arrested by the Assayish while trying to cross the borders,” Welat said. “Head of the Assayish didn’t issue any official statements regarding the strict procedures and the arrest of those civilians.”

Local sources in Kobane reported that those arrested by the Assayish on the Turkish borders “will be obliged to join the front lines to fight (alongside the Kurdish YPG fighters) against the ISIL for a minimum period of 45 days”.

The Kurdish forces of the Popular Protection Units (YPG) −military wing of the PYD− is in conflict with the al-Qaeda splinter group of the ISIL since nearly one year for control over Syria’s northeastern areas −where Kurds constitute a majority. Kurdish activists expressed their “disappointment” with the Assayish forces after preventing Kurdish civilians from crossing into Turkey, saying that the members of the Assayish “were supposed to help their unarmed peers by allowing them to escape violence and siege in Kobane instead of shutting the only door (in refernce to Kobane crossing port) in their face”. Reporting by: Zara Seyda