... autonomous republic) as a haven for PKK fighters. The PYD controls an uninterrupted 400 km long land strip along the Turkish border, from the Euphrates river to Iraq. It also has the control of the region of Afrin, in northwestern Syria.
On March 17, Syrian Kurds have declared a federal region in northern Syria that unites the three Kurdish cantons (Kobani, Afrin and Jazira), while including Kurdish representatives from northern Aleppo. The PYD has insisted its political project has been set on a territorial ...
... after ISIS took the city, 700 Yazidis women were rapped and sold as slaves for $150 each by jihadists.
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re significantly, from the operational point of view, the 7500 Kurdish fighters involved in the offensive included not only Iraqi Kurds, but also Kurds from the Syrian YPG (People’s Protection Units), the military branch of the Syrian Kurdish party, the PYD (Democratic Union Party), as well as units of the Turkish PKK (Kurdistan Workers Party). Historically, Iraqi Kurds have poor, if not tense, relations ...
... jihadists in Syria and Iraq have spread to Turkish territory. And, politically speaking, the killing of PKK members by the Turkish police on July 22 highlighted the internal security problems facing the country. The support provided by PKK members to Syrian Kurds from the Democratic Union Party (PYD) and their armed People’s Protection Units (YPG) in the fight against ISIS has helped them to strengthen their positions. The Turkish Kurds have increased their political weight as well thanks to the explosion ...
On July 20, 2015 the Turkish city of Suruc on the border with Syria fell victim to an horrific terrorist attack that took the lives of more than 30 people and injured another 100 — young activists of the left-wing Federation of Socialist Youth Associations (Sosyalist Gençlik Derneği Federasyonu – ...