Putin praises Kurdish support for Russian forces in northern Syria

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region -- Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Friday that Kurds have shown their support, kind-heartedness and love towards Russian military police who have been deployed to northern Syria to halt a Turkish offensive against Kurdish fighters.

Turkey and its Syrian proxies launched Operation Peace Spring against the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) on October 9 in northern Syria. Turkey’s stated objectives are to drive the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) away from the Turkish-Syrian border, and then resettle millions of Syrian refugees who have been living in Turkey into the border areas.

YPG forces comprise the backbone of the SDF, and have successfully defended the population of northeast Syria against threats from ISIS since 2014.

The Turkish government believes that the YPG is the Syrian offshoot of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), an armed Kurdish group fighting for the political and cultural rights of Kurds in Turkey. The PKK is listed as a terrorist group by Turkey, the US, and some EU countries, and Turkey vehemently opposes any YPG presence along the Turkish border.

The US and Russia brokered separate ceasefire deals with Turkey to halt Operation Peace Spring, but heavy fighting between Turkish and SDF forces has continued.

As per the Russia-Turkey deal, Russian military police have been deployed to Kobane, Darbasiya and other border areas to conduct joint patrols with the Turkish army.

They have so far held more than ten joint patrols in Kobane, Darbasiya, Qamishli and Malikiya (Derik) - sometimes encountering protests by locals.

Speaking at a meeting of Russia’s Nationalities Relations Council on Friday, Putin said that, "at least some positive achievements" that have materialized on the border between Syria and Turkey “rely on the Kurds’ support and their interests,” reported TASS.

"The people understand this. They display a kind-hearted approach towards us, even love," Putin said, adding that their military police, "see a very kind attitude of the Kurdish population [during joint patrols with Turkey], because the people there see and understand that the Russian army is there to protect them. This is a hard fact."

Asked about his opinion on some Russian experts who have allegedly insulted Kurds in Syria on Russian federal television, Putin said that, "They are not officials, they do not represent the authorities […] They do not express the viewpoint of either the television broadcaster or Russia’s authorities." He also pointed out that his country is home to many Kurds.

The Russian government and Syrian Kurdish officials in the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria have enjoyed good relations over the past few years, and Russia has sometimes acted as a mediator between the Syrian government in Damascus and the predominantly Kurdish administration in northeast Syria.

Many Kurds accused Russian troops of treason after they withdrew from the Kurdish enclave of Afrin in 2018, paving the way for Turkish troops to attack and control it. However, Kurdish authorities in northeast Syria have not expressed opposition to Russia’s current presence in areas previously controlled by the SDF.

In places like Kobane, Russian military police control the area from a strategic standpoint, but the city remains under the administration of Kurdish officials.

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