Turkey interfering with PYD, Muslim claims

PARIS

Muslim said Islamist groups in northern Syria have been weakening. DHA photo

Turkey had not warned the Democratic Union Party (PYD) to stop its advances in northern Syria, instead it was trying to interfere, the leader of the Syrian Kurdish group claimed.

Saleh Muslim said Islamist groups in northern Syria have been weakening after months of fighting and Kurdish militias are gaining ground, vowing to continue their advances. Muslim told Reuters in Paris the recent announcement of an interim administration that aims to carve out an autonomous Syrian Kurdish region was only “provisional” until there was a viable solution to Syria’s civil war. Muslim said Turkey had not warned his group to stop its advances in Syria, but was trying to interfere. 

“They are trying to divide the Kurds by bringing certain (Kurdish) parties into the (opposition) Syrian National Coalition (SNC),” he said. “They are just trying to keep the Kurds from representing themselves.”
Muslim’s comments came as the SNC labeled the PYD as “hostile” forces. “The PYD is a group hostile to the Syrian revolution,” the National Coalition said in a statement. “Its declaration of self-rule amounts to a separatist act, shattering any relationship with the Syrian people who are battling to achieve a free, united and independent state, liberated from tyranny, sovereign over all of its territory,” the alliance said.