The Kurdish National Council suspended its meetings with the opposition’s Syrian National Coalition following reports of assaults by military groups affiliated with the Syrian National Army on Kurdish civilians in the city of Afrin, northern Aleppo.
Faisal Youssef, the spokesperson for the Kurdish National Council in Syria, said on Thursday, September 19, to North Press Agency, that the Council suspended the presence of its representatives in the Coalition’s meetings in response to the “violations” in Afrin.
A responsible source within the Kurdish National Council, who preferred not to be named as he is not authorized to talk about details to the media, told Enab Baladi that the Council informed the Coalition of suspending its meetings along with a set of demands.
The text of the Council message to the Coalition stated: “We, the representatives of the Kurdish National Council in the Coalition, demand the immediate removal of the representative of the al-Amshat faction from the Coalition’s General Assembly due to the atrocities committed by his faction against our people in the areas under their control in Sheikh al-Hadid and Maabtali, the latest of which was in the village of Kakhrah, affiliated with Maabtali. Also, due to the inappropriate behavior of its representative on the Coalition’s page as the first accountability of this faction, we announce our non-attendance at the meetings until the violations are completely stopped,” according to the source.
According to the source, the Kurdish National Council did not intend to speak about its demands from the Coalition publicly, but the latter leaked the details of the issue to the media.
Additionally, a responsible source in the Coalition confirmed the details of the dispute without providing further details, while the Coalition’s Public Relations Office declined to answer Enab Baladi‘s inquiries about the same topic.
Contradictory narratives
Conflicting reports surfaced about what happened in the village of Kakhrah (Yakhour), affiliated with the Maabtali district in Afrin countryside. Some spoke of killings and attacks on civilians by the Sultan Suleiman Shah Division, known as “al-Amshat,” while others mentioned a dispute between residents that a military faction intervened to resolve.
Activists and local networks reported on September 15th the killing of Ms. Nazila Tola and the injury of others following an attack by the al-Amshat faction on a protest against the taxes (levies) imposed by the faction on olive trees.
According to the activists, the village was besieged after the attack, but later a video was posted on social media denying the narrative of Ms. Tola’s killing.
Mohamed al-Dugheim, the general administrator of the Sultan Suleiman Shah Division, told Enab Baladi that what happened was a dispute between two families “one of the Kurdish brothers and a family of displaced persons. The faction resolved the conflict between them, and there is no remaining obstacle.”
The Coalition issued a statement on September 16th condemning what happened in Kakhrah village, stating that it is following up on what happened in the village to “get to the truth of the unfortunate events.”
The Syrian Islamic Council stated on September 17th that the acts of oppression against residents in some areas of Afrin, including “oppression and beating of women by some factions, stealing money under the guise of taxes on olive trees or taking a percentage of the oil, or occupying homes, are all forms of forbidden oppression.”
Meanwhile, the Kurdish National Council said in a statement that the “al-Amshat” faction kidnapped people from the village of Kakhrah and demanded a ransom for their release.