Syria Kurds of ENKS raise fears of ‘demographic change’ with Turkish FM

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – A delegation of the Syrian Kurdish National Council (ENKS) on Wednesday met with the Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu to discuss abuses and demographic changes in the Kurdish areas of northern Syria occupied by Turkish forces and their Syrian proxies.

“Met w/delegation of Kurdish National Council of #Syria, legitimate representative of Syrian Kurdish people. Supporting their role w/in Syrian National Coalition & political process. Emphasized that biggest damage to Kurdish people comes from PKK/YPG terrorist organization,” Cavusoglu said in a tweet on Wednesday.

He was referring to the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), an armed group fighting for the cultural and political rights of Kurds in Turkey, and the Democratic Union Party (PYD), which controls Kurdish-held areas of northeast Syria.

ENKS has been a member of the Ankara-backed Syrian National Coalition (SNC) since its foundation in 2012 but has frozen its membership since Turkey attacked Kurdish forces in October. The SNC is recognized by at least 20 states, including regional and western powers.

ENKS is one of two rival Syrian Kurdish camps in Rojava, or northeast Syria. The other camp, the Movement for a Democratic Society (TEV-DEM), is led by the PYD. 

For years, the TEV-DEM was opposed to the ENKS. While the opposition ENKS is backed by the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) in neighbouring Iraq and has relations with Turkey, Ankara is deeply opposed to the TEV-DEM government of the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (NES).

In early 2018, Turkey invaded the Kurdish enclave of Afrin with the help of its Syrian proxies, and then in October of 2019 again launched an offensive into the Kurdish-held border areas of northern Syria, driving the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) out of major towns.

In Afrin, a widespread campaign of demographic change has been ongoing for almost two years, and much of the Kurdish population is now displaced to camps in nearby Tel Rifat. 

As for the recently seized border towns, locals have suffered the same fate with daily abuses committed by Turkish-backed proxies.

“He [Cavusoglu] spoke of what the people of the areas where their [Turkish] forces exist in Afrin, Ras al-Ain, and Tel Abyad are going through at the hands of some factions and armed groups, expressing his rejection to these practices and the necessity of holding the perpetrators accountable,” read an ENKS presidency statement following the meeting. 

The ENKS statement claimed the Turkish foreign minister also rejected demographic change and supported the return of displaced families to their homes.

“It [ENKS] called on Turkey to help in the implementation of the its agreement with the [Syrian National] Coalition regarding putting an end to violations that the people of Sari Kani (Ras al-Ain), Gire Spi (Tel Abyad) are facing, and working on facilitating the return of the displaced to their homes safely,” the statement said.

The ENKS has a verbal agreement with the SNC for the demography of Kurdish areas in Syria under the control of Syrian opposition forces to be preserved and for daily abuses to be stopped.

Nimat Dawoud, a member of the Kurdish delegation, told Rudaw they had requested the meeting in October when Turkey launched its offensive.

“The meeting was of course very important, especially after our meeting with the [Syrian National] Coalition and an agreement between both of us,” said Dawoud.

“We say that if Turkey doesn’t back this agreement and doesn’t help in its implementation, then it is difficult for it to be implemented,” Dawoud said, referring to the sway Turkey has over opposition forces.

“The meeting was along two lines. We wanted from them [Turks] to support the implementation of this agreement so that the plight of war-hit people in these places is lifted. The other line was the discussion of the general political developments,” he said.

Turkey has an “important role” in Syria and its Kurdish areas, Dawoud said.

“We relayed the Council’s stance on the ongoing demographic change taking place currently [in Kurdish areas]. We expressed our rejection and condemnation of these acts,” he added.

The meeting took place at a sensitive time for Syria’s Kurds. Reconciliation efforts are underway between SDF Commander Mazloum Abdi and the ENKS, mediated by the KRG and the international community. 

The ENKS meeting with Turkey’s foreign minister might set back the reconciliation effort, as hardline factions within the Rojava administration are deeply opposed to Turkey’s policies and its occupation.

“We told them there is an international desire, and our people’s wish, for there to be Kurdish unity. It is both a wish and a necessity,” Dawoud said.

“It is for the interests of our people, the Syrian people, and peace.”