Citing the report, the Today’s Zaman daily said that volunteers have been traveling to Syria since last year to join the YPG, the military wing of the Democratic Union Party (PYD), which is linked to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).
The report says that volunteers come from a surprising backgrounds.
“The candidates recruited for the YPG are young people from the families of well-known local politicians, leaders, businessmen and officials,” the newspaper quoted the report as saying.
Backed by US-led coalition airstrikes, the YPG’s Kurdish fighters have been assaulting ISIS targets in Syria, especially the Kurdish regions, or Rojava.
The majority of the volunteers were from the Patriotic Revolutionist Youth Movement (YDG-H), the youth branch of the PKK in southeastern Turkey, the paper reported.
It said that at least 173 fighters from Turkey were killed fighting alongside YPG forces in Syria, while an estimated 690 wounded have been treated in Turkish hospitals since 2014.
In their latest success, about a week ago the YPG pushed back an assault by ISIS and like forces from the Kurdish city of Kobani – the second time they have successfully defended the city since declaring victory in January after months of withstanding an ISIS barrage.
The Kurdish forces also have part in ongoing battle for Hasaka in Syria.
The PKK remains outlawed in Turkey for carrying out a four-decade armed conflict for regional autonomy. Its jailed leader, Abdullah Ocalan, has been in stuttering peace talks with Ankara to help resolve Turkey’s Kurdish issue.
