PKK/PYD 'will not to take part in Raqqah assault'

By Mohamad Misto and Selen Temizer

GENEVA (AA) - The attack on Daesh’s Syrian stronghold Raqqah will not involve the PKK/PYD, a leading Syrian-Kurdish politician said Thursday.

Fouad Aliko, who is representing the Kurdish National Council (KNC) at peace talks in Geneva, told Anadolu Agency said the group would only be involved on the periphery of any operation to retake the city.

“The role of the PKK/PYD will be limited to only surrounding the city,” he said. “The main force to fight in the operation will include Arabs.”

An assault on Raqqah is expected to come after Mosul, Daesh’s base in northern Iraq, falls.

The KNC was formed in October 2011 by representatives of Syrian-Kurdish political parties and civil society organizations. It is part of the opposition High Negotiation Committee and controls the Rojava Peshmerga, an armed unit of Syrian Kurds formed in Iraq.

Aliko said the PKK/PYD -- listed as a terror organization by Turkey but viewed by the U.S. as a ground ally in Syria -- said the group was conducting a “political massacre” of both Arabs and Kurds.

He said more than a million Kurds had fled their homes due to PKK/PYD “persecution”, including 100,000 young men and women who ran to escape being recruited to the terror group.

“Those who stayed in PYD regions are regime supporters,” he added, referring to Bashar al-Assad’s government.

Aliko also claimed that the PKK/PYD denied UN humanitarian aid to those who did not support it.

He said the federation declared by the PKK/PYD in northern Syria a year ago was “neither logical nor applicable” under international law.