BRUSSELS, Belgium – Co-chairman of the Democratic Union Party (PYD) Salih Muslim warned of the regional interference in Syrian Kurdistan and said his party would fight against “any side that tries to undermine the enclave.”
Addressing the Kurdish National Congress (KNC) in Brussels Wednesday, Muslim defended the vastly criticized PYD policies in Syrian Kurdistan.
“The struggle that was started two centuries ago for self rule continues in our time in Rojava (Syrian Kurdistan) with all its achievements,” the PYD leader said. “We are an inseparable part of the Kurdish people. Rojava is the beacon of hope for millions of Kurds across the globe, and we will fight anyone who intends to harm it.”
Muslim said events in Syrian Kurdistan would inevitably impact Kurds “everywhere else as a nation.” Referring to the Syrian government as a “dictatorial force,” the PYD leader said his party has been able to defy an “oppressive system” and its “pawns” in Syrian Kurdistan
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He added that both the Syrian regime and other regional forces have been assisting various militant Islamists in Syria.
“Even some Kurdish factions have resorted to militant jihadists. We have to understand what they seek and why they need such forces.”
The PYD leader also said his party had an “extensive network of diplomatic relations,” without detailing with whom. The PYD has been widely accused of covert collaboration with Damascus, something the party has categorically rejected.
Muslim said his party will “adapt to the same nationalist spirit” that drove the struggle of the iconic Kurdish leaders of the past. “We will continue the liberating struggle of Sheikh Said, (Abdul Rahman) Ghassemlou, (Sadegh) Sharafkandi and Mustafa Barzani in Rojava,” he said.
“The regional administrations that we have established have included all components of the society,” he said, defending the PYD-supported administrations in major cities, which he described as “safeguarding citizen rights.”
Last year, the PYD established autonomous administrations in different provinces of Syrian Kurdistan. Iraq’s Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP), which enjoys immense influence among Kurds in Syria, condemned the administrations and accused the PYD of disintegrating the unity of Kurds in Syrian Kurdistan.
Muslim was critical of the KNC for its “inability” to act in line with the demands of the Kurdish people. “Why have we not been able to hold the congress on Kurdish soil,” he rhetorically asked the participants of the congress, urging it to support Syrian Kurdistan.
“We have not given up despite a year long besiegement, when our only financial support comes from Kurds abroad.”
