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YPG and PKK: are you looking closely?

November 19, 20224 Mins read5k Views
Levent Kemal
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Just after the deadly attack in Istanbul last weekend, an odd discussion started. And some westerners, most of whom are the apologists of PKK, were also involved in the discussion. Western PKK apologists tried to focus the heated political debate about who carried out the attack on the claim that the perpetrator was not the PKK or the YPG.

Even though they had no data, Westerners and some Turkish opposition members suddenly began to claim that the attack was carried out by ISIS. In opposite Turkish interior minister drew attention to the Kurdish militant group YPG, the PKK’s Syrian branch, after the attack.

Those who claimed that the PKK or YPG did not carry out the attack were trying to create a logic circle with question-answer fiction. “Why would the PKK carry out such an attack” That was the question. “This allows Turkey to carry out the military operation in Syria, and PKK does not want that” is the answer. In fact, the PKK does not hesitate to carry out attacks like those on Istiklal Avenue with the cells it set up in the YPG body, as it knows that Western YPG and PKK supporters will think so.

They, PKK and YPG apologists, also claimed that with the bomb attack, the Turkish government was trying to create public consent to a military operation against YPG. They had taken this theory from the Turkish opposition.

The thing that is PKK-YPG apologists don’t understand is Turkey does not need an internal excuse to invoke an operation against the PKK Syria branch YPG. Because Turkish politics is dominated by the rising nationalist parties in recent years, even in opposition.  On the other hand, all Turkey needs for an operation against the YPG in Syria is to negotiate with its international counterparts. And these negotiations continue with significant progress.

On the other hand, Turkey had already stated its intention that it will launch an operation against the YPG in Syria after the anti-PKK military operations in Iraq, almost five months ago.

PKK bodies in YPG ranks

By the way, as everyone knows there are serious PKK bodies like the Revolutionary Youth in the YPG ranks, except Turkey-origin Marxist-Leninist organizations. And as it is known, many YPG leaders come from PKK cadres. Besides, YPG General Commander Mazloum Abdi confessed the presence of PKK elements in the ranks of the YPG.

PKK apologists deny in advance that this strong PKK influence within the YPG could carry out attacks against Turkey through Syria. But the Istiklal Street attack is not the first attack from the YPG region on Turkey.

At the end of October, Turkey arrested at least six known PKK members trying to enter Turkey from the YPG region in Syria. In September, the number was not less. The hunt for the terrorist codenamed Ala, who was found to have crossed into Turkey in cooperation with PKK cells in Turkey, is continuing. According to security sources, a PKK-YPG member cod-named Ala was enter Turkey after three years in the YPG ranks.

Identity shield

There are a lot of indicators that the two formations (PKK and YPG) are managed along the same ideological and organizational lines. Among these data, there are many examples of the YPG’s repression against the PKK’s arch-rivals. One of these is the offices of the KDP-affiliated Kurdistan 24 news organizations in the YPG region were raided and closed. Kurdistan 24 was accused of “hate speech and promoting intra-Kurdish fighting”. Was this true? No. YPG took a position in the tension between the PKK and the KDP in Iraq and closed the media organization affiliated with KDP.

When you define the YPG as a member of the PKK with such indications, Western promoters switch to another absurd logic. Western PKK and YPG supporters say whenever Turkey takes action against the PKK or YPG, “Turkey is attacking the Kurds.”

In a way, this is like hiding behind an Arab or Muslim identity and heroizing Al Qaeda against the West. Otherwise, should we say, “The West was attacking Muslims, not al-Qaeda”? Identities are often a shield behind which terrorist organizations hide. While declaring one terrorist among the organizations, the West sees it as ‘natural’ to heroize the other. In fact, this is blatant hypocrisy.

Kurdish identity has become part of the PKK’s efforts to legitimize itself, especially through the YPG. However, the Kurdish identity used by the PKK and YPG is just an illusion. Because the organization does not hesitate to violently suppress all its Kurdish rivals, including the area under the control of the Syrian branch YPG, as in Iraq and Turkey.

In sum, Turkey does not need a deep state false flag operation to operate against the YPG. There is no rational reason to assume that the YPG is innocent of an attack planned in Syria and carried out in Turkey. Why would the YPG, which maintains the PKK ideology as it is and includes many PKK cadres and PKK-linked groups, be declared innocent?

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Levent Kemal

Levent Kemal is a freelance journalist and researcher based in Istanbul. He has followed the civil wars and conflicts in Afghanistan, Syria, and Iraq as an independent journalist. He has published news, articles, and analyses on conflict zones, and non-state armed organizations in various newspapers and magazines.

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