ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - The offices of a number of Kurdish opposition parties in Kobane, northeast Syria (Rojava) were set on fire on Wednesday, allegedly by a group affiliated with the ruling Democratic Union Party (PYD). No casualties have been reported.
Suleiman Oso, an official from the Kurdish National Council (ENKS), told Rudaw English late Wednesday that the office of the umbrella group as well as the offices of two key member parties in Kobane were set on fire with Molotov cocktails, accusing the PYD-affiliated Revolutionary Youths.
The offices of the ENKS in Hasaka and Derik were also set on fire by the group in the last two days, Oso added, describing the situation as one in which, “We are in danger … They try to terrify us.”
The attacks coincide with Turkey’s fresh military offensive against the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) in the mountains of Duhok, in the Kurdistan Region earlier this week. The PKK has claimed that the Region’s ruling Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) is supporting Ankara in the campaign and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan thanked the Kurdistan Region on Wednesday for its alleged support.
The KDP has neither rejected nor confirmed the claim.
ENKS is politically linked to the KDP and the PYD is ideologically linked to the PKK.
When KDP-PKK relations become thorny, there are negative consequences for ENKS-PYD relations.
In 2016, Rojava authorities banned ENKS activities in the region, closing about 40 of their offices and jailing hundreds of ENKS members who were later released. The crackdown was launched after the latter refused to follow the ruling authorities’ procedures on opening political offices.
They reopened their offices in early 2020 after their talks with PYD resumed in late 2019, thanks to an initiative by Mazloum Abdi, commander of Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF). However, the talks have stalled since summer 2020 due to tensions between KDP and PKK.
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