“The PKK dominates the SDF; the decisions are being taken by the organization,” Abdulkarim al-Ubaid, who served as a senior SDF executive, told Anadolu Agency.
Although al-Ubaid served as a senior executive, he claims that he did not have a role in the SDF’s decision-making.
According to Anadolu Agency, in October 2015, the Syrian Democratic Union Party (PYD) – a Syrian offshoot of the PKK – “sent a small group of Arab fighters to form the SDF, promising to share weapons and logistics offered by the United States”.
The PKK’s reach stretches far beyond the SDF, Obeid claimed.
“The PKK does not only dominate the SDF but also the PYD (Democratic Union Party),” he said.
He also claimed that the groups that make up the SDF are simply there to project a misleading image of the group to outsiders. He even called the SDF a “sheath” used by the PKK "to conceal their separatist goals and gain legitimacy in the territory they control."
"SDF commanders were annoyed by the sympathy the al-Tahrir Brigade gained in Tel Abyad,” Ubaid said. “They responded to our efforts to establish an Arab front -- with a view to building a balance between these forces -- by putting pressure on us.”
"That is why we had to retreat," he said.
He went on to claim that PKK commanders under the guise of SDF members plan to head towards Turkey once a suitable base is established in Syria.
"They explicitly said that they wanted to put the Greater Kurdistan project ... into practice after first setting up the Syrian Kurdistan by forming cantons in the north of the country [Syria],” Ubaid said.
"Al-Hasakah canton, ruled by a PKK member named Karazan, is an example of this. Many of the regions under PYD control are not Kurdish areas," he added.
Ubaid also believes that the U.S. is not only aware of the PKK’s involvement in the SDF.
“The only disagreement between them is Manbij [an Aleppo district],” he said. "While the U.S. prefers to attack Daesh-controlled Raqqa [in northern Syria], the PKK leaders insist on attacking Manbij."
Ubaid dismissed rumours that the PYD forces are withdrawing from Manbij. "These elements are still in the city center,” he said.
Regarding Arabs in the PYD-PKK, Ubaid said that “there are breaches in the areas under the control of PYD.”
“Arabs in these areas were subjected to an unprecedented relocation. People in Raqqa and Hasakah’s countryside were all forced to emigrate,” he claimed.
