MESOP : FORCED RECRUITEMENT / (ZWANGSREKRUTIERUNG) OF PYD (PKK) – A SEVERE VIOLATION OF INTERNATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS STANDARDS

WEST KURDISTAN (SYRIA) – PYD’s Conscription Law causes mass displacement among Syrian Kurdish youth

December 9, 2014 – ARA News –  Hasakah, Syria – The Assayish forces (security arm of the Democratic Union Party ‘PYD’) carried out a campaign of arrests in the city of Hasakah, in northeastern Syria, on Sunday. Dozens of Kurdish young men were arrested during the campaign, local sources reported, adding that the detainees are expected to join the compulsory service of Self-Defense declared by the PYD-run Self-Administration in Hasakah province. Speaking to ARA News in Hasakah, a family member of one of the detainees, who preferred anonymity, said that the PYD-linked Assayish besieged several streets in the Tel Hajar neighborhood, closing its entrances and exits, before storming several houses and arresting dozens of young men.

“The Assayish forces first demanded the people of the area to offer one young man from each family who meets the conditions for the Self-Defense law. But the refusal of the families to hand over their sons led the Assayish to storm the houses and capture dozens,” the source added. The source also confirmed that the Assayish forces arrested students at the Faculty of Education at the University of al-Furat in Hasakah. Local activists told ARA News that the Assayish forces distributed “call notices” to the people of Tel Hajar and other neighborhoods through which a number of youths contacted the Recruitment Center of the Assayish in the city of Hasakah.

Ivan Hasib, civil rights activist based in Hasakah, stated to ARA News that such “unilateral decisions” carried out by a specific political party “does not serve the interests of the Kurdish people, nor its just cause in Syria”. “Such practices lead to an increase in the migration rates among the Kurdish people, especially the youth,” Hasib argued. “This will leave negative impact on Kurdish society as a whole.”  

In the meantime, civil rights activist Muhammed Ali, based in Hasakah, stated to ARA News that a pro-regime military police patrols, stationed at the Sabbagh roundabout at the entrance of the northern part of the city, were checking the military service cards of the young men passing by.

“Several young men were arrested on Monday.”

Ali pointed out that the recent military police patrols carried out several campaigns of arrest in the regime-held neighborhoods of Hasakah. The Assayish forces started implementing the duty of Self-Defense in a number of cities and towns in Hasakah province in October 2014, where hundreds of young men, mostly Kurds, were arrested at checkpoints in the Kurdish-majority cities. While many of them were reportedly released, at least 70 have been trained militarily to join the Kurdish forces. – Reporting by: Zaradasht Khalil – Source: ARA News