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Salih Muslim: Divorce Is Inevitable Between the Syrian Regime, Türkiye

Democratic Union Party Co-Chairman Salih Muslim (REUTERS)
Democratic Union Party Co-Chairman Salih Muslim (REUTERS)
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Salih Muslim: Divorce Is Inevitable Between the Syrian Regime, Türkiye

Democratic Union Party Co-Chairman Salih Muslim (REUTERS)
Democratic Union Party Co-Chairman Salih Muslim (REUTERS)

Salih Muslim, the co-chairman of the Democratic Union Party, the main party of the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria, has rejected the PYD having any links to the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).

Muslim, however, admitted that the PYD and PKK, which is blacklisted as a terrorist organization in Türkiye, share a “common philosophy.”

“They accuse our party of affiliation with the PKK so they can label us as terrorists as well and prepare for launching a war against the PYD,” Muslim told Asharq Al-Awsat in an interview.

“We believe that the PKK is not a terrorist organization, but it has been placed on the terror list based on Turkish demands and pressures,” added Muslim.

“It is true that we are ideologically similar to the PKK in the sense that we derive our ideas, work, and strategy from the ideas and theories of Abdullah Ocalan, because he is a Kurdish and global leader,” explained Muslim.

“However, we are not linked to the PKK in any organizational or membership form whatsoever,” he said.

Muslim considered that the meetings, which took place between the Syrian regime and Türkiye, are like a “forced marriage that is fated to end in divorce.”

“The parties that seek to complete this marriage, whether it is Russia or Iran, know and realize that it will not last, and its inevitable fate is divorce,” Muslim told Asharq Al-Awsat.

“There are great contradictions between Damascus and Ankara, and if this rapprochement achieves a political solution, it is welcome, and if it puts an end to this war, it is also welcome,” he added.

“I do not think that this normalization will develop and take the form of friendly relations, as it was before 2011. This is due to the great contradictions and differences between the Syrian state and Türkiye,” he explained.

The PYD, which was founded in 2003, has risen to prominence with the start of the Syrian civil war.

It, with the help of Arab, Christian, and Kurdish parties, established “autonomous regions” in three parts of northeastern Syria. These regions were established in areas where the population is mostly made up of Kurds.

During the siege of Kobani in 2014, the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG), a mainly Kurdish group affiliated with the PYD, gained the support of the US-led international coalition against ISIS.

With that help, the YPG secured control over territory located in four Syrian provinces. According to 2017 estimates, this territory amounted to one-third of the area of Syria.

Türkiye, concerned over the growth of the PYD’s influence, launched three military operations.

In 2016, it launched Operation Euphrates Shield. In 2018, it launched Operation Olive Branch. In 2019, it launched Operation Peace Spring.

These three military ventures resulted in the PYD and YPG losing control over key cities.

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Lebanon’s President to Asharq Al-Awsat: Decision of War and Peace Lies Solely with the State

Lebanese President Joseph Aoun in the interview with Asharq Al-Awsat's editor-in-chief Ghassan Charbel. Photo: Asharq Al-Awsat
Lebanese President Joseph Aoun in the interview with Asharq Al-Awsat's editor-in-chief Ghassan Charbel. Photo: Asharq Al-Awsat
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Lebanon’s President to Asharq Al-Awsat: Decision of War and Peace Lies Solely with the State

Lebanese President Joseph Aoun in the interview with Asharq Al-Awsat's editor-in-chief Ghassan Charbel. Photo: Asharq Al-Awsat
Lebanese President Joseph Aoun in the interview with Asharq Al-Awsat's editor-in-chief Ghassan Charbel. Photo: Asharq Al-Awsat

Lebanese President Joseph Aoun says he wants to build a state that has the decision of war and peace and stressed he is committed to implementing Security Council Resolution 1701.

In an interview with Asharq Al-Awsat, his first since his election in January, Aoun said: “Our objective is to build the state, so nothing is difficult. And if we want to talk about the concept of sovereignty, its concept is to place the decisions of war and peace in the hands of the state, and to monopolize or restrict weapons to the state.”

“When will it be achieved? Surely, the circumstances will allow it,” he told the newspaper.

Asked whether the state will be able to impose control over all Lebanese territories with its own forces and without any military or security partnership, he said: "It is no longer allowed for anyone other than the state to fulfill its national duty in protecting the land and the people ... When there is an aggression against the Lebanese state, the state makes the decision, and it determines how to mobilize forces to defend the country."

He also stressed his full commitment to implement UN Security Council Resolution 1701. “The state and all its institutions are committed to implementing the Resolution” on the “entire Lebanese territories,” Aoun said.

On the possible adoption of a defense strategy, Aoun insisted that even if a state does not have enemies on its borders, it should agree on a national security strategy that not only deals with military goals but also economic and fiscal objectives.

“We are tired of war,” he said in response to a question. “We hope to end military conflicts and resolve our problems through diplomatic efforts,” he said.

Asked whether he was surprised that the Israeli army has stayed at five points in south Lebanon, Aoun said that Israel should have committed to the ceasefire agreement that was sponsored by the US and France and should have withdrawn from all areas it had entered during the war with Hezbollah.

“We are in contact with France and the US to pressure Israel to withdraw from the five points because they don’t have any military value,” he said.

“With the emergence of technologies, drones and satellites,” an army does not need a hill for surveillance, Aoun added.

"Saudi Arabia has become a gateway for the region and for the whole world. It has become a platform for global peace,” he said when asked why he has chosen to visit the Kingdom on his first official trip abroad.

“I hope and expect from Saudi Arabia, especially Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, that we correct the relationship for the benefit of both countries and remove all the obstacles ... so that we can build economic and natural relations between us.”

He said that during his visit he plans to ask Saudi Arabia to revive a grant of military aid to Lebanon.

On relations with the Syrian authorities, Aoun said he intends to have friendly ties the new Syrian administration and that one of the pressing issues is to resolve the problem of the porous border between the two countries.

“There are problems on the border (with Syria) with smugglers. Most importantly, the land and sea border with Syria should be demarcated,” he said.

Aoun also called for resolving the problem of Syrian refugees in Lebanon. “The Syrian state cannot give up on 2 million citizens who have been displaced to Lebanon.”

The refugees should return because “the Syrian war ended and the regime that was persecuting them collapsed,” he said.