As Iraq and Syria both undergo years of bloody internal warfare, Kurdish forces have long been eager to show internal solidarity, with differences of opinion rarely publicized, let alone leading to fights. This is increasingly changing, however.
Locals in the northeastern Syrian city of Qamishli reported that the Kurdish Union Party’s office was set on fire by a group of armed men. There was no claim of responsibility, but the party claimed the gunmen were linked to the PYD, which is the ruling political faction in Syrian Kurdistan, adding that they ransacked the office before burning it down.
The Kurdish Union Party is part of a coalition of smaller Kurdsih politcal parties backed by Masoud Barzani, the President of Iraqi Kurdistan. Though the Iraqi Kurdistan Regional Government has been the bastion of stability in Iraq for years, there are problems there too.
Earlier this month, fighters from the Peshmerga Rojava, an auxiliary of the KRG’s Peshmerga recruited from pro-Barzani factions in Syria, got into a fight near Sinjar with a local PKK faction. This raised tension between Barzani’s government and the PKK.
And while the group’s are officially distinct, as the PKK goes, in most cases, so goes the PYD, leading the PYD to arrest pro-Barzani figures in Syria, while the Iraqi KRG has been arresting local PKK supporters for participating in protests against the Barzani government.
More trouble seems to be inevitable as a result of the Americns importing Peshmerga from Iraq presumably because they’re more “reliable” and might be less incendiary to the Turks.
I guess the US and it;s G7 partners are not content with merely causing states to collapse but must also strive to devide & collapse entities within failed states! I guess the sport in this would be to see if the exponential increase in Libyan & Syrian refugees can be mirrored by a similar increase in Kurdish refugees from their very own conflict!
This has been going on for a while. A well know secret is that US and its European allies for years fund and arm PKK. This was a way to keep Turkey on leash, in addition to controlling Turkish military untill very recently. PYD is Syria’s equivalent. Turkey considers them both terrorist organizations — as they both have foreign patrons arming them and politically using them. In Iraq, Peshmerga led by Barzani have for a long time cooperated with both
Bagdhad and Ankara. This ability to forge regional ties made Barzani relatively reselient to foreign demands. This all came to light at Sinjar.
Remenber poor Yazidi? And how US decided to go back to Iraq — to help Yazidi and liberate Sinjar. It was liberated with Kurdish help. So far so good. But then — surprise. Peshmerga was told to wait outside the town, and PKK was to enter first! Not only did they enter — but PKK stayed there, Yazidis forgotten. Sinjar is on road to Syria, and in Syria PYD — the ally of Turkish and Iraqi PKK. The intent was obvious from the start.
PKK– West supported and lionized will control partt of Turkey, Syria and Iraq. Barzani and Peshmerga are the problem. But now, there is every reason for Barzani to opemly fight PKK affiliates in the region — as he does not want EU/US controlled Kurds, to serve as an agent of provocation — and keep three states (eventually four) in turmoil. The
Identical role played by Albanians in the Balkans. So, with Turkey layingbits cards on the table — Barzani has no reason to advance PKK and PYD interests.
The battle for Raqqa will be telling. Kurds are not a force to take on ISIS there. If Kurds show any success there — than all is rigged. ISIS is then not real, and is merely a placeholder for PYD and PKK in Turkey and Iraq. With PKK sitting in Sinjar, and PYD in Raqqa — they will control the border. If we do not see some real fights any time soon in this mythical Raqqa — why did US alliance then keep the skies over Raqqa protected from Syrian or Russian airforce? If this area becomes prootected for YPD, we will soon know if US intends to nation build — or work on stabilizing Iraq and Syria — and get out of occupation/proxy nation building like Kosovo.
US is not the only one increasing forces. Russia has increased special operations, military police, and its new contract based military. The latest batch of contractors will come from Ossetia, and it is very oblique — but there are already trainers from China and others on humanitarian tasks. China just inked an intent on rebuilding Syria, as a historic part of old Silk Road. Between those training the army in Chinese supplied equipment, humanitarians and the infrastructure rebuilding assessment teams, before you know it there will be thousands of Chinese in the region. As the number of terrorists dwindles, a new phase is ramping up.
Breaking off from Barzani’s Quisling gangster state is the best thing for the Rojava Revolution. Barzani’s gangsters are the ones rearing to turn Kurdistan into the new Israel. The PKK/PYD are the stateless solution to the Kurdish nationalist problem. Once again, anarchism is the solution. Smoke the gangsters out and smoke out their American lackeys in the Special Forces while your at it. If a revolution cant stand on its own two feet then the revolution cant stand.