"We are very concerned about military activity in northern Syria, northern Iraq," and reports of civilian casualties, he said in an interview with Rudaw on Monday.
In recent weeks, Turkey has stepped up its attacks in areas of northeast Syria covered by 2019 ceasefires brokered by Washington and Moscow. Several civilians and Kurdish fighters have been killed. Kurdish leadership have called on Russia to step up in its role as monitor of the ceasefire and end Turkey’s attacks and have expressed disappointment that the global coalition against the Islamic State group (ISIS) have remained silent.
Ankara believes that Syrian Kurdish forces of the People’s Protection Units (YPG) and Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) are offshoots of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), which it has named a terrorist organization. It considers the Syrian Kurdish groups a threat to Turkey’s national security.
Across the border in northern Iraq, Turkey is carrying out months-long operations in northern Duhok province that resulted in several civilian deaths and forced the evacuation of tens of villages. The PKK has its headquarters in the Kurdistan Region's mountains. Turkey has also carried out a massive air raid 200 kilometres deep into Kurdistan Region territory, striking alleged PKK positions in Sulaimani province, and it has carried out airstrikes in the Shingal area, killing six fighters from a local Yazidi force linked with the PKK, and four health workers.
Hood said the US understands “that Turkey needs to take actions in its own national defence against terrorist activity. So we’re calling on all groups to cease their military activities, their terrorist activities so that we can focus on the real enemy, which is Daesh [ISIS].”
He also expressed hope that intro-Kurdish dialogue to mend fences between rival Kurdish political parties in northeast Syria (Rojava) will help to foster greater cooperation and peace, thereby isolating the PKK.
Rojava’s ruling Kurdish National Unity Parties (PYNK) umbrella group have been in on-and-off talks with the opposition Kurdish National Council (ENKS) since late 2019 to reach an agreement over power sharing.
Rudaw: Mr. Assistant Secretary, thank you so much for being with us today. I want to start with a question about Syria. There have been increased military activities in northeast Syria. How concerned are you about this recent activity in that area?
Joey Hood: Salam alaikum, it’s nice to be with you Rebaz and with your audience, we send our warmest greetings to all of your viewers. Yes, we are very concerned about military activity in northern Syria, northern Iraq. We are very concerned about reports of civilians being caught up, in some cases, in this action and it’s obviously not helpful, I think, to finding peace and stability in the area. At the same time of course, we understand that Turkey needs to take actions in its own national defence against terrorist activity. So we’re calling on all groups to cease their military activities, their terrorist activities so that we can focus on the real enemy, which is Daesh, fighting and defeating Daesh once and for all and rebuilding these areas so that we can have a stable, and peaceful, and prosperous Iraq and Syria.
Are you worried about the safety of your troops, especially in Syria? Last week there was an operation near Qamishlo and we know that US troops are also stationed in that area. Are you concerned about the safety of your troops?
Well Turkey is of course a NATO ally and so we have close coordination with Turkey, and so I also know that if attacks are coming from our adversaries, our military has every capability of defending itself and will do so and has done so on a number of occasions. But really what we’re trying to do is, through dialogue, to promote this sort of peaceful reconciliation among all of the Kurdish groups to try to tamp down the activities of terrorist groups and to keep the fight on the main enemy, which is Daesh.
The US is part of an on-going dialogue between different political parties in Rojava. Is there any progress in the dialogue?
Well, yes, I think we are very much promoters of what I just called intra-Kurdish dialogue between parties in northern Syria and in northern Iraq of course, because we think that greater understanding, greater cooperation, greater peace between these groups is going to be helpful in isolating groups like the PKK that are up to no good, and to build a more peaceful and prosperous Kurdistan region in Iraq and northeast Syria. And that’s what we’ve been working for. I was in northeast Syria a couple of months ago. We maintain dialogue with the various Kurdish parties there. And of course I have visited Erbil recently on a couple of occasions and continue on almost a daily basis to have dialogue with our friends there, as obviously is the case, through our consulate in Erbil and our diplomats who are located there and in northeast Syria.
You talked about the dialogue between the parties in Rojava. Are there any impediments to that dialogue in Rojava?
Well I think there’s always questions of trust and of communication and we’re doing our best as the United States to try to promote better communication and therefore better dialogue, better trust between all sides to combat the common enemy, which is Daesh, to work with us to do stabilization projects, which we have I think $50 million dedicated to for this year alone. And in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq to be looking forward to well-run elections in October, government formation that leads to governments throughout Iraq that will really serve the people. And that’s why we’re going to remain engaged in Iraq and Syria, militarily, diplomatically, economically, and in every facet, because Iraq, in particular, it’s in the US national interest to have a robust relationship with that country for all the reasons that you know. It’s important to the world energy market, it’s important to global heritage, the Kurdistan Region itself is very important to innovation and to peace and stability, and not to mention all of the mosaic of smaller components that really make up the beauty of the Iraqi people.
People are concerned here, the people that we talk to in Kurdistan Region and the rest of Iraq, especially after what happened in Afghanistan, that something like that might happen here in Iraq as well after the decision to withdraw troops here. What do you say to those concerns, to those concerns by regular people here?
What I say is nothing could be further from the truth. These are two completely different situations and if we focus squarely on Iraq, as I said, it’s incredibly important to US national interests, for us to stay there militarily, assisting the Iraqi security forces, including the Peshmerga, to complete the defeat of Daesh so that they never threaten the country or the region ever again. And economically it’s important to us because Iraq is important to the world energy markets. Culturally it’s important to us because you are the home of so much cultural heritage, as Pope Francis demonstrated during his visit there. So this country of Iraq is important to US national interests all on its own, and that’s why we’re going to remain engaged on all these facets. I mean, culturally speaking too, we talked about education - the American University of Iraq in Sulaimani, you have American curriculum schools now in Erbil, the Catholic University of Erbil, you have similarly an American curriculum school in Duhok, there’s one now in Baghdad. We support these with tens of millions of dollars every year and we’re going to continue doing that. We’re going to try to bring more students from Iraq and from the region to the United States. You know, just in the past few decades, we’ve had more than a million and a half students from the region studying in the United States, more than a hundred thousand at any one time from year to year. That’s important. That’s the sort of engagement that isn’t just made on a decision one day to the next to end. And President Biden has absolutely no intention of ending that robust engagement with Iraq.
Let’s talk about the upcoming election in Iraq in October. Are you concerned about the integrity of the election?
Well I think everybody’s concerned about election integrity all over the world. We’ve seen all sorts of attempts by our adversaries around the world to mess with elections.
What are the main concerns when it comes to Iraq?
With regard to Iraq specifically, we have focused on funding the efforts of the United Nations mission to have a robust monitoring group there throughout the country so that they can report back to the international community what they see in terms of how the election is organized and what the outcome looks like. I know that the EU has also decided to field an observer mission, which we support greatly. And of course, our diplomats will be out in the field in Baghdad and Erbil, along with diplomats from other countries watching what happens in the run up to the election and on election day itself and then in the course of counting the ballots and forming a government. So, we know more importantly than the international community is that the Iraqi people have very high expectations for a well-run election this time, and if they don’t get it, I think they will be back out on the streets, peacefully demonstrating once again to express their views. So it’s in everyone’s interests, and I’m sure that the Iraqi people believe in this as well, to have a well-run election that leads to a government that serves the interests of the people.
Are you worried about any interference from regional countries in the upcoming election?
Well I think we all have to be concerned about the activities of our adversaries trying to undermine elections because not everybody, it’s not a surprise to you or your viewers, but not everybody and not every government in the world believes in democracy, they don’t believe in giving the power to the people to decide what kind of government they want for themselves. But this is a fundamental belief of the United States and I think of the Iraqi people as well. They may disagree with the results of the elections, they may disagree with the policies of governments that come into place after those elections, but I think we can all agree that the people deserve their right to express their views and have that counted in their elections. So we all have to do everything that we can to make sure that there is good integrity to this election. And that starts with having a robust monitoring team from the international community, and that’s what the United States government has supported for several months now. So we look forward to seeing those elections in October. I know there’s been a lot of speculation about whether the United States secretly wants to see the elections move to another date - that’s false. We want to see the elections happen in November - in October, I’m sorry. And we want to see them run well and produce a government that will introduce reforms and provide for its people.
