Although links between the PKK and PYD have been deliberately disregarded by some, especially Washington, archives and testimonies show contrary evidence that in terms of leadership, ideology and militant activities
The Syrian Kurdish group Democratic Union Party (PYD) has seized the northern parts of Syria after forces loyal to President Bashar Assad abruptly abandoned Kurdish cities in 2012. Since then, Turkey has claimed that there was a solid link between the PYD and the Northern Iraq-based radical Kurdish nationalist PKK, recognized as a terrorist group by Turkey as well as Western countries.
Although the connection between the two parties has been established as a fact within many academic circles, Turkey's NATO ally the U.S., currently refuses to recognize that connection and claims that despite their ideological similarity, the groups have separate decision-making processes and that there is no organic attachment between them. The U.S. officially designated the PKK as a foreign terrorist organization in 1997, but for reasons associated with the struggle against DAESH, the U.S. is willing to work with the PYD.
A report published by the Atlantic Council has detailed the widespread presence of Turkish citizens in the ranks of the PYD's armed wing, the People's Protection Units (YPG). Casualty data from the YPG compiled through open sources confirms links between the YPG and the PKK. Kurds from Turkey total roughly 50 percent of Kurdish casualties between 2013 and 2016.
Salih Muslim, the current chairman of the PYD, has also implicitly accepted that there were hundreds of PKK militants in the ranks of the YPG. "It is quite natural for a Kurd who was formerly one of the [PKK] fighters in the mountains to defend his home" Muslim told the London-based Al-Quds Al-Arabi newspaper last month.
But this information is not enough to reach a conclusion in the eyes of American officials as well as other commentators who are sympathetic to the PYD's cause in Syria.
This is why we decided to investigate the PYD-PKK connection in the PKK archives, past news stories and testimonies. We found strong organic links between the two organizations.
The PYD's foundation: The PKK's direct role
The Kurdish insurgent group PKK, established in 1978 by Abdullah Öcalan and headquartered in Syria from 1979 to 1998, was forced to leave Syria after Turkey threatened war against Hafez al-Assad's Syrian regime, which was providing logistics and training for the Kurdish militants. Many accounts suggest that a new party had to be founded after this development, since the PKK still had strong support in the country's north.
Syrian Kurds had a presence in the PKK's ranks as well, and they are generally referred to as "undocumented" by the Turkish authorities, since the Syrian regime didn't recognize them as Syrian citizens. Research carried out in 2007 by James Brandon of the Jamestown Foundation suggests that twenty percent of PKK militants were Syrian nationals.
The PKK's official magazine, Serxwebûn, (Independence), mentions the name of the PYD for the first time in its May 2002 issue where the documents of the PKK's 8th General Congress were compiled.
The Political-Practical Working Report, prepared for the 8th PKK Congress, underlined the absence of a political party in Syria that can defend the rights of Kurds in the country. The report suggested that PKK needed to establish a political arm in Syria as follows,
"Our Congress should make assignment and create a Democratic Union Movement of Syria or Democratic Union Party, and support it as part of our movement in upcoming days."
Osman Öcalan, the younger brother of the imprisoned founder of the PKK, Abdullah Öcalan, and also a senior PKK commander at the time, said that he founded the PYD in 2003.
He stated in an interview with Iraqi television Zelal in 2013 that, "I founded the PYD, as I did PJAK (the PKK's Iranian arm). We did not use the word "Kurdistan" in the party's title since we did not want to provoke the Syrian regime. The PYD is connected to the PKK, and acts upon on PKK orders."
In a separate interview given to the Turkish daily Yeni Akit, Osman Öcalan said that the PKK decided to establish the PYD while bearing in mind a possible US intervention in the region. "We held the first general PYD congress in October 2003. We trained the cadres."
2003 was an important year for the PKK. Following his 1999 arrest by the Turkish authorities, Öcalan tried to redesign the party based on an "updated" philosophy that ended the organization's demands for independence and instead prioritized a confederated struggle within the existing states of Iran, Turkey and Syria. The PKK changed its name after a congress in November 2003, and established the "People's Congress of Kurdistan," or Kongra-Gel. The PKK's armed wing, the People's Defense Forces (HPG), which has been operating since 2000, preserved the previous organizational scheme and continued its operations without regard to the PKK's name change.
Turkish newspapers reported the establishment of the PYD in May 2004, referencing unnamed Turkish officials. The Cumhuriyet daily said that the PYD was founded to shield the PKK/Kongra Gel's illegal activities in the region. It said the riots in Syria's Qamishli village, which occurred in March 2004, "were provoked" by 2,000 PKK militants.
Official PKK websites and magazines depict the establishment of the PYD in detail. For example, an undated article published by Zaxo Şiyar on the PKK's women's branch, the Kurdistan Women's Freedom Party's (PAJK) website, says that the PKK's leadership decided to establish individual parties separately in every region of Kurdistan. The article, which also appeared on the PKK's Arabic website, depicts the PKK's psychology after its forced exit from Syria and subsequent arrest of Öcalan:
The Syrian state was planning to destroy the remaining party cadres since the leadership was dispersed. The PYD party was established under the shadow of these liquidation operations in the four parts of Kurdistan. The PYD was the first party in southwestern Kurdistan, and tried to create its own perspective.
The four original PYD founders were PKK militants
There is no doubt that PKK militants were the PYD's original founders, because its current leadership still commemorates the five founders, who were members of the PKK's armed wing the HPG, and were later assassinated in Iraq's Mosul.
Following the Syrian regime's 2004 crackdown in northern Syria against the PYD, the party's political committee decided to move to Northern Iraq to review their strategy: namely Şilan Kobani (Meysa Baqi), Zekeriya (Zekeriya İbrahim), Fuat (Hikmet Tokmak), Cemil (Nebo Ali) and Ciwan (Hacı Cuma Ali).
PYD militant Şilan Kobani (CR) with seen next to the imprisoned PKK leader Abdullah Öcalan (R).PYD militant Şilan Kobani (CR) with seen next to the imprisoned PKK leader Abdullah Öcalan (R).
The PKK's official magazine Serxwebûn describes the aim of the committee in an article dated November 2006:
A group of comrades were assigned to re-construct our democratic struggle in south-west Kurdistan. Comrades Şilan, Fuat, Zekeriya Ciwan and Cemil were chosen to do this task. These comrades, who were martyred in Mosul on November 29, 2004, would take a memorable place in the history of the Apoist (Abdullah Öcalan) movement.
In another article published in February 2007, the magazine explains that,
Şilan's formal area of work was Syria but Syrian state was looking for her, this is why it was better for her to perform her work in Iraq. She was coordinating the PYD tasks from Iraq. This area was formerly belonging to our leadership (Abdullah Öcalan) and for Syria and Turkey it was important to take over this territory to weaken the PKK. Our enemy thought "if we weaken the PKK in southwest Kurdistan, then they would weakened everywhere. Comrade Şilan played a vital role to expand PYD as an organization. This is how the PYD survived.
PYD Commemorates Fallen Founders
The PYD officially recognizes its fallen members and regularly commemorates the date they died. For example, according to pro-PYD Kurdish news agency ANHA, the PYD last year issued a statement in which it commemorated its former founders, who were "martyred" by "a conspiracy" on November 29, 2004.
The statement says that the construction of social revolution in Syria was possible thanks to these leaders, especially Şilan Kobani, also known as Meysa Baqi.
Şilan Kobani, who joined the PKK in 1998, has a special place in the PKK's cadres. The PKK's official websites and magazines have published multiple articles and interviews in memory of her.
The PKK also declared her a symbol for new PKK cadres in its" Remodeling Congress" held in 2005.
The PKK's armed wing HPG lists Şilan Kobani (Meysa Baqi), Zekeriya (Zekeriya İbrahim), Fuat (Hikmet Tokmak), Cemil (Nebo Ali) and Ciwan (Hacı Cuma Ali) among their 2004 martyrs.
Turkish newspaper Milliyet, confirming the PYD leaders' membership in the PKK, reported that five senior PKK/Kongra-Gel commanders were assassinated in Mosul's Shingal.
The PYD is today connected to the PKK in a framework, a supreme body called the KCK that supervises the associated organizations created by Abdullah Öcalan while he was looking for new ways to increase his outreach across Kurdistan.
Originally Posted by CrowBat
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