The Kurdish National Council (ENKS), a local political party based in northern Syria, announced on Tuesday that the PKK terrorist group's Syrian wing, the YPG, had abducted nearly 20 of its members in the Qamishli district of the Hassakeh region.
PKK/YPG terrorists battered and kidnapped six ENKS members and supporters who wanted to stage a rally against their violations in the regions they occupy, local sources said.
The whereabouts of the abductees are yet unknown.
In a statement on X, the council condemned the "barbaric and violent" attack and abduction of peaceful protestors.
It also called on the United States to denounce the crime committed against the ENKS and blamed the YPG.
The PKK/YPG similarly kidnapped two ENKS members from the same region earlier last month amid growing backlash in northern Syria against the group’s plans to hold so-called local elections.
The ENKS was the first to boycott the elections, with its secretary-general, Muhammad Ismail, arguing that they viewed the elections as "illegitimate."
Soon, the boycott grew, and protests in Syria accompanied it. The U.S., known for its staunch support for the PKK/YPG, also warned against the elections, saying the conditions were "not feasible."
The PKK/YPG has since postponed the elections from June 11 to August 2024. Sources said the elections, planned in several regions and towns, from Deir el-Zour and Raqqa to Manbij and Afrin, were postponed due to "intense external pressure."
Locals in districts like Manbij, whose lands were occupied by the PKK/YPG eight years ago, are among staunch opponents of the elections, too. They believe that the move aims to divide the country.
The district center, town and villages of Manbij, whose population overwhelmingly consists of Arabs with close to 99%, were occupied by the PKK/YPG with the support of the U.S. in 2016. The U.S., which promised that PKK/YPG members would leave Manbij, did not fulfill its commitments.
Civilians escaping from the methods of forced recruitment, kidnapping of children, and drug addiction and extortion imposed by the terrorist organization under the pretext of "tax" in the occupied territories have migrated to the Turkish border.
For Türkiye, the move is the first step to establishing a "PKK-run state" in Syria’s north, immediately across the border. Türkiye has highlighted that the election was also a threat to the territorial integrity of Syria, which has been mired in a civil war since 2011.
Ankara, which has troops inside northern Syria backing the Assad regime’s opposition, has pursued diplomatic talks to prevent the elections and has emphasized that it would endanger border security and regional peace.
President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan recently said the PKK's Syrian extension was intensifying efforts to establish a "terroristan" by oppressing the local population and using various coercive methods, including the expulsion of non-compliant individuals and the use of child soldiers.
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.
After losing significant territory and countless terrorists, the group ceded to its stronghold in the Qandil Mountains in northern Iraq near the Turkish border while its Syrian branch took advantage of a power vacuum created by the Syrian civil war since 2011 and invaded several resource-rich provinces with the help of the U.S.
Washington calls the YPG its ally under the pretext of driving out Daesh, which is a source of strain with its NATO ally Ankara, who says it’s "senseless" to use one terrorist group to fight another.
The YPG terrorists in the past nine years forced many locals to migrate, bringing their militants to change the regional demographic, seizing regional oil wells – Syria’s largest – to smuggle oil and generate revenue for its activities.