Thousands of Arab youths living in Syria’s areas occupied by the PKK’s Syrian wing, the YPG, flee forced conscription of the terrorist organization and seek refuge in regions under the Syrian National Army (SNA), the Defense Ministry of the Syrian Interim Government said Tuesday.
The youths resided in Hassakeh and Raqqa governorates and the Manbij district of the Aleppo governorate, the ministry said on X.
"The organization employs forced conscription to address the shortage of manpower and alter the demographic structure in the occupied areas," it said.
Hasan Cemmo, who sought refuge in a SNA region after escaping from the PKK/YPG, said: "The organization sent me papers every day to enlist in their ranks. To avoid joining the organization, I was forced to leave my neighborhood, Hazavne, in Manbij."
On the other side, a speaker for a Kurdish opposition group, Redor el-Ahmed, told Anadolu Agency (AA) that the YPG abducted a 14-year-old girl in Syria’s Ain al-Arab province’s Curud town on Jan. 28. He said that the terrorist organization prevented the children from contacting their families and took them to so-called training camps to learn how to use guns.
Previously, a similar incident took place in December again in Ain al-Arab, also known as Kobani, when the YPG abducted 12-year-old E.Ş.K.
The PKK’s use of youth was also previously recorded by the United Nations and humanitarian groups. In 2022, a U.N. report "Children and armed conflict in the Syrian Arab Republic," released May 18, showed that the YPG/PKK used more than 400 children between July 2018 and June 2020.
Local people living in areas held by the YPG have long suffered from its atrocities, as the terrorist organization has a notorious record of human rights abuses, ranging from kidnappings, recruitment of child soldiers, torture, ethnic cleansing and forced displacement.
Since its foundation, the PKK has forcibly taken at least one child from families who fail to "pay taxes" in support of the group. To fill its ranks, the PKK continuously raids villages and kidnaps young adults from the ages of 15 to 20 using violent means. In addition to forced conscription, the PKK also conducts propaganda campaigns that mainly target university students. The terrorist group's approach has remained largely consistent, according to statements by captured or surrendered members of the organization.
Apart from the forced abductions, the YPG continues to attack civilians. Despite Türkiye’s cross-border operations to free northern areas of terrorists and establish calm for Syrian civilians to go on with their daily lives, the YPG continues to target residential areas and civilians by using areas like Tal Rifaat as bases.
PKK terrorists often hide out in northern Iraq and Syria to plot cross-border attacks in Türkiye.
Meanwhile, the Turkish Armed Forces (TSK) eliminated 13 terrorists in Syria’s north, the Defense Ministry announced on Wednesday. It said that the terrorists tried to disrupt the security and attacked the Operation Olive Branch and Euphrates Shield areas, after which the TSK responded.