ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – Weapons promised to be delivered to the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) by the United States will not end up in the hands of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), the leader of the main Kurdish party in Syria has said, adding that they will give “reasonable guarantees” to the Americans in this regard.
Muslim said that they have have given guarantees to the Americans that the weapons do not end up in PKK hands.
Speaking to Voice of America (VOA), the co-leader of the Democratic Union Party (PYD) Salih Muslim welcomed the decision by the new US administration to deliver arms to the YPG.
“This was a late decision, but it is a positive step,” Muslim told VOA Turkish, describing the US move as a “sacred decision” on the radio’s Kurdish service.
“I do not wish to discuss military matters,” Muslim said. “But we give this guarantee. We are in need of weapons ourselves, and as support we are asking for weapons. Then how could it be possible that we give our weapons to other organizations? The PKK is another issue ad have their own methods. But the weapons will never end up in PKK hands. I believe that those who deliver weapons will take precautions. They will get reasonable guarantees [beforehand].”
Muslim said this was the first time the Americans dealt directly with the YPG since the United States joined the campaign against ISIS in Iraq and Syria about three years ago.
Turkey, which shares border with the Kurdish-controlled areas of Syria has openly and strongly criticized the US decision, an issue that will be top of the agenda when the Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan visits the White House next week.
Turkey considers the PYD and its armed wing YPG extensions of the outlawed PKK, a rebel group that has staged decades-long insurgency against the Turkish state. Ankara wants Washington to backtrack on arming the YPG, and the YPG-dominated Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) who launched a military campaign last November to oust ISIS from Raqqa, the group’s de-facto capital in Syria.
The US-led Global Coalition has provided military support and advice to the SDF in its campaign against the extremist group.
The PYD leader thought the Kurdish forces and the American shared a common objective and enemy, which is defeating ISIS in Syria.
He told VOA Kurdish that the new cooperation between the two sides “shows that there is trust between the Americans and Kurds,” which he described as a good development.
Muslim said imposing four de-escalations zones in Syria as agreed on in the Astana talks earlier in the month guaranteed by Russia, Iran and Turkey was not “in the interest of the Syrian people.”
“It is a buy and sell” deal, Muslim said, believing that the Americans are also concerned about its implementation.
US President Donald Trump signed off on a plan to arm the SDF last Tuesday ahead of the expected Raqqa operation supported by the international anti-ISIS coalition.
Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said that they have received assurances from the US that the weapons will never be used against Ankara.
“The [US] defense secretary on numerous occasions made very, very clear, an unequivocal commitment that they would never allow those weapons to be turned against Turkey,” Yildirim told reporters in London according to the Turkish media where he met with the Defense Secretary James Mattis.
The PM called the alliance between the US and the Kurds as “tactical” and not “strategic.”
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