MESOP WEST KURDISTAN-SYRIA – FORCED RECRUITEMENT BY PKK/PYD

PYD Stages Wide Campaign for Forced Military Service: Official  – He says PYD’s asking about Kurdish families’ –  political affiliation is to further press the opposition parties

  Leyla Hemid  – BasNews – 17/01/2017 – 20:46 – ERBIL – A wide campaign of forcibly recruiting Kurdish youth of northern Syria in the ranks of Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD) has been initiated by the party, an official from an opposition coalition said on Tuesday.

Kawa Azizi, a member of the Leadership Board of Kurdish National Council of Syria (KNCS) told BasNews that youth from across the Western Kurdistan (Kurdish part of Syria), especially from the city of Qamishlo “are arrested”  to conduct compulsory military service. The official added that the new recruits will be taken to the battlefields of war against the Islamic State (IS) after participating in some drills.

As Azizi explained, PYD goes house to house in Western Kurdistan, asking families to fill in forms which ask about their political affiliation. He thought this move by PYD is to put further pressure on KNCS members, adding “it’s very important that the political parties in Western Kurdistan be notified about the dangers posed by PYD.”According to reports, many KNCS members and supporters have been either arrested or beaten up by the PYD forces, which are accused by the opposition parties of unilateral ruling in the three Kurdish cantons in northern Syria. www.mesop.de