An Arab delegate’s argument at a meeting of the so-called civilian branch of the PKK/YPG that Arab leaders’ role is only "for show" has revealed that the region is essentially controlled by terrorists from the Qandil Mountains in northern Iraq.

According to a transcript of the meeting in the Raqqa district, which is occupied by the PKK/YPG, published in Kurdstreet News, a network monitoring developments in Syria, Arab representative Muhammad Ramazan explained that it is the PKK controlling the so-called civilian structures.

These structures are led by co-chairs but the Arab leaders are only there for show, Ramazan said, comparing their situation to a "vase."

"In every institution, there is a PKK affiliate from Kurdish brothers with no official title or position. This affiliate holds all authority based on no regulation or law," Ramazan said.

The fact the decision-making power belongs to an ethnic group reminds the local residents of the "old scenario (Bashar Assad’s regime)," he added. "Let’s not go back to zero and there won’t be a counterrevolution," Ramazan told the meeting.

Residents in northern Syria have specific knowledge of terrorists that come from the PKK’s stronghold in Qandil.

PKK/YPG’s Syrian ringleader Ferhat Abdi Şahin, also known as Mazloum Kobani or Şahin Cilo, admitted in a November 2020 interview with the International Crisis Group that thousands of terrorists trained by the PKK arrive in Syria and stay there to don a civilian disguise.

Northern Syria has several predominantly Arab provinces like Deir el-Zour, which have been occupied by the PKK/YPG for years now, which draws its recruits mainly from Syrian Kurds.

In its nearly 40-year terror campaign against Türkiye, the PKK – listed as a terrorist organization by Türkiye, the U.S. and the EU – has been responsible for the deaths of over 40,000 people, including women, children and infants.

YPG is its Syrian offshoot.

The group is accused of forcibly recruiting Arab children in regions it occupied in Syria. The PKK/YPG also seized profitable oil wells in the region and sold them to the Damascus regime through smugglers despite sanctions on oil sales by its ally, the U.S.

Local tribes have been fighting against the PKK/YPG's oppressive policies, including arbitrary arrests and kidnappings since the occupation. The terrorists have assassinated tribal leaders to yoke local groups over the years.

Arab tribes too have been clashing with the PKK/YPG sporadically since last year in Deir el-Zour where hundreds of U.S. troops have been deployed since 2015 to help PKK/YPG terrorists fight against another terrorist group, Daesh, a pretext that angers Türkiye, as well.

Ankara, which has troops inside northern Syria backing Assad’s opposition and in northern Iraq targeting PKK terrorists, plans to mount a final offensive this year to sever the ties between Qandil and Syria.