PYD Co-leader denied US visa but seeks political ties with Washington

Salih Muslim, co-leader of the Democratic Unity Party (PYD), told a Washington audience on Thursday they are "expecting” that the PYD’s military relationship with the US will “widen into the political field, as well as the diplomatic field.”

WASHINGTON DC, United States (Kurdistan24) – Salih Muslim, co-leader of the Democratic Unity Party (PYD), told a Washington audience on Thursday they are "expecting” that the PYD’s military relationship with the US will “widen into the political field, as well as the diplomatic field.”

Muslim’s statement to a conference sponsored by the Kurdish Policy Research Center follows the Trump administration’s decision earlier this month to provide weapons directly to the People’s Protection Units (YPG), the military arm of the PYD.

That decision drew strong protest from Turkey. Washington and Ankara both consider the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) a terrorist organization but disagree with regards to the YPG and PYD: Turkey maintains they are a branch of the PKK; the US says they are separate.

Muslim described the US decision to arm the YPG directly as “a very important step” and suggested the decision was owed to the “trust” they developed with the US over the past three years—since the YPG, with support from the US-led coalition, broke the siege of Kobani.

US authorities offer a different explanation, however. They attribute their decision to the planned liberation of Raqqa, the de facto capital of IS’ self-declared caliphate.

As a senior State Department official explained to Kurdistan24 earlier this week, “Raqqa has been the hub for [IS’] foreign fighters and their external plotting efforts, so we are very determined to get IS out of Raqqa.”

“There really is only one option for Raqqa,” he continued: the YPG-led forces, supported by the US-led coalition.

The State Department’s Deputy Assistant Secretary for European and Eurasian Affairs, Jonathan Cohen, last week described the US relationship with the YPG as “temporary, transactional, and tactical.”

Notably, Cohen’s statement followed the visit of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to Washington.

Muslim has long been unable to travel to the US. On Thursday, he addressed his Washington DC audience via Skype from Brussels, Belgium.

Asked about this, Muslim explained that he had requested a US visa much in advance. Two months ago, he was told that his visa request had been rejected.

He suggested “some lobby groups” had blocked his trip, an evident allusion to Turkey.

Muslim was also asked about Cohen’s statement on the temporary nature of the US alliance with the YPG.

Muslim responded that “the relation could be tactical,” but it “could also be permanent.”

"It depends on common interests. At present, both sides seek to liberate Raqqa and defeat IS," he explained.

But will the liberation of Raqqa end the danger that IS poses? “I don’t think so,” he said, adding that there is a need for permanent cooperation “against such mentalities.”

“Until now,” Muslim explained, the US “did not say they would give us up when we finish Raqqa.” Rather, the opposite is happening and relations are growing “deeper and deeper” in his view.

Muslim concluded by noting the weakness of the Syrian regime. "It depends on Iran, Hezbollah, and Russia, and it lacks the ability fight against the Kurds," he said.

"If Iran or Hezbollah should try to invade our areas, we will defend ourselves,” he affirmed, adding that they also have “friends” who might help them.

Henri Barkey, head of the Middle East Program at the Woodrow Wilson Center, who formerly worked at the State Department, suggested that the YPG was trying to “replicate” the experience of Iraq’s Kurds and the Kurdistan Regional Government.

The Syrian Kurds were trying to “get Americans to owe them something,” Barkey said.

"The YPG expects legitimacy from the US."

 

Editing by G.H. Renaud