Syria radicals would weaken without Turkey’s support: Salih Muslim

TARAF  22.10.2013 – The leader of Syria pro-Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD) Salih Muslim believes the Syrian radical groups will weaken without any supports from Ankara.

Speaking Taraf daily after his 21-year-old son, Shervan, was killed in northern Syria in early October during clashes with radical groups, Muslim said those groups would have been weakened if Turkey had not provided them with support, a claim frequently made by the Kurdish leader. “[After my son’s death] I thought that if Turkey had not supported these militant groups, had not let them pass through Turkey to Syria, had not opened up its soil to them, then we would not have experienced all of these [agonies]. These [radical] groups would not have stood up against our people without the support of Turkey,” said Muslim. “We should stand hand in hand with Turkey against radical groups. We are ready for this. We want friendly and brotherly relations with Turkey,” the PYD leader said, adding that it was out of the question for them to harm Turkey. The PYD leader had previously accused Turkey of having a hand in the atrocities committed by extremist groups that are fighting against the regime in Syria. Ankara has several times denied the claims, saying it will not take part in the ongoing fighting in Syria.