Interview – Our initiative could be a solution to Syria crisis: PYD official Shekhmous Ahmad, leading member of the Democratic Union Party (PYD

MESOP : NEW MORNING – OR A TIME LIMITED TACTICAL STEP ONLY ?

ARA News – 27.6.2014 – Hasakah, Syria – With the establishment of the “Democratic Auto-Administration” by the Democratic Union Party (PYD) and other allied political parties in the Kurdish-majority areas in Syria, disputes emerged between the Kurdish National Council (KNC) and the PYD-led People’s Council of Western Kurdistan, especially with the holding ot Syrian presidential elections in areas supposedly led by the Auto-Administration (also referred to as Kurdish self-rule). The KNC considers the PYD’s formation of the Auto-Administration as an attempt to monopolize power in Syria’s north.

In an interview with ARA News, Shekhmous Ahmad, leading member of  the PYD, said that the Democratic Auto-Administration’s stance is “clear” concerning the regime and its elections. “The coordination unit of the three cantons of al-Jazeera, Kobane and Efrin in northern Syria announced their boycott to the elections and prevented balloting centers in their areas.”

He also asserted that the Syrian presidential election was “illegitimate and does not serve the interests of the Syrian people”, adding that everybody expected Bashar al-Assad to win. In Ahmad’s opinion, PYD’s attitude towards the regime would stay the same unless the latter stops killing and expelling the Syrian people as well as showing commitment to accomplish a political solution to the three-year crisis in Syria.

Ahmad asserted the rights of all Syrians, “especially Kurds in Rojava (Kurdish majority areas in Syria)”.

The PYD official told ARA News that the Kurdish cause and demands will not be fulfilled without a democratic pluralistic regime in Damascus that represents all Syrians, including the Kurds.Ahmad highlighted the goal of the Auto-Administration as “democracy to Rojava and Syria in general”, claiming that the current Syrian regime “is linked to Iran which will not allow any solution to the Kurdish issue in Syria as it will affect the Kurds’ status in Iran itself”.

Talking about recent visits of representatives of the Assad regime to some Kurdish cities, Ahmad said: “The regime owns two security zones in Qamishlo (Qamishli) and Hasakah, and wants to tell the public opinion that it still controls our regions and still pays the employees’ salaries in areas out of its control such as Idlib, Aleppo and Homs.”

“The regime officials do not visit YPG-held areas. ISIL attacks to our regions considerably increase during these visits, which demonstrates ISIL-regime coordination,” Ahmad told ARA News. “ISIL’s last attack on Sere Kaniye (Ras al-Ain) city led to the death of many civilians, including children, and ISIL militants burnt huge areas of crops land. The aim behind this was to allow regime’s electoral centers in our regions. However, we will defend our areas against ISIL. Our YPG fighters are highly equipped and prepared to face any attacks by ISIL militants.”

The Kurdish YPG (Popular Protection Units) is the military arm of the Democratic Union Party (PYD) and is in control over various areas in northern Syria. The YPG forces are in conflict with the militants of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) since more than a year. Regarding the programme of the Auto-Administration, Ahmad said: “This unit provides public services and jobs for people. We have agricultural, industrial and productive projects, in three cantons (Jazeera in the northeast, Kobane and Efrin), to build an economy on which we can rely in the future to reach autarky at all levels; in case the regime stopped delivering salaries, we would be able to manage people’s lives.”

Ahmad clarified that “the unit was obliged to issue laws regulating its work”. “However, our administration was internally and externally attacked by rival parties (in reference to KNC members) which led to our failure in this regard.”

Talking about the Administration’s attitude from Iraqi Kurdistan, Ahmad stated to ARA News: “We do not want to have enemies. We aim to reduce the impact of this critical phase on our people. We hoped to be supported by people in southern Kurdistan (Iraqi Kurdistan Region), especially the Kurdistani Democratic Party (KDP), and to learn from their experience in the fields of administration and construction. However, they did not recognize us and attacked Rojava revolution, unlike other political parties in southern Kurdistan. We hope they will reconsider their current position and support us.”

As for the relationship between the PYD-led Auto-Administration and the Kurdish National Council in Syria (KNC), Ahmad said: “The Administration alongside with its affiliated Kurdish parties will submit an initiative called the ‘democratic solution initiative’ to all Syrian opposition factions, inside and outside Syria, including the KNC, the Syrian National Coalition (SNC), the National Coordination Committee and the military forces.”

In reference to a recent meeting between a delegation from the Auto-Administration and the KNC, Ahmad commented: “The meeting with the KNC was constructive; they participated in writing and signing the draft of this Administration, so we invite them to be a part of it.

“We also intend to meet leadership of the Syrian National Coalition (SNC) and present our initiative as it aims to a democratic Syria that guarantees all citizens’ rights and solves the Kurdish issue in Syria as well as running our areas by the Administration that consists of the region’s components,” the leading member of the PYD concluded.

Interviewing by: Zaradesht Khalil Source: ARA News