Unacceptable whitewash by YPG
Kategori: Politik
In a statement quoted in the PKK newspaper Özgür Gündem on May 26, 2015 the Kurdish YPG militia in Syria deny any involvement in the assassination of the Assyrian leader David Jendo in Khabur. YPG's General Command claims that those who accuse the militia would alienate the Assyrians from YPG and leave them without a defense in the hands of the Islamic State. Even the Assyrian group called Dawronoye, an ally of YPG, released a statement during its annual congress, claiming that “dark forces are trying to destroy the good relations between Kurds and their Assyrian allies”, according to Suroyo TV news of May, 31. This is an unacceptable whitewash, since there is no doubt about the identity of the assassins. The wounded Assyrian leader Elias Naser has clearly pointed out their names, adding that two are leading members of YPG.
YPG is the military wing of the PYD, which in turn is the daughter organization of the PKK in Syria. Because PKK is considered a terrorist organization by the USA, officially it keeps silent about its superiority over PYD, especially after the cooperation with US forces in the battle of Kobane. As to Dawronoye, they not only deny and speak about conspiracies and dark forces, they have also launched a campaign in order to collect funds for the re-building of the Assyrian villages in Khabur. Although the Kurds and their Assyrian henchmen have shown their real intentions, they still try to manipulate the public opinion about the attack on Assyrian leaders.
At midnight on April 22, five members of YPG came to the house where the Assyrian leaders of Natore d-Khabur were currently located. They persuaded the Assyrians to accompany them to a secret meeting. The topic of the meeting was said to be discussions about the Assyrian accusations against the Kurdish looting of empty Assyrian villages in the Khabur. A moment later, David Jendo was murdered and Elias Naser mortally wounded. But miraculously, and unfortunately for the Kurdish perpetrators, Elias Naser survived. He would later write down the names of the perpetrators and tell us that all five are members of the YPG, two of them with leadership positions. He knew them well and had no difficulty telling their code names in the militia. YPG's General Command, however, didn’t initially know that Elias Naser was alive and therefore released a statement on April 29, 2015 through the Kurdish news agency ARA News, which blamed ISIS for the deed. On April 30, AINA forwarded the statement, in which we can read the following:
“The YPG leadership emphasized that this crime will not go unpunished, pointing out that a special committee was formed to investigate the assassination operation in order to uncover the truth and bring the perpetrators to justice, taking the necessary measures and actions.
Leader of the Syriac Union Party, Hanna Malki, told ARA News: We are highly concerned about mass displacements taking place in the province of Hasakah. The IS terrorists and al-Qaeda militants are displacing civilians on basis of ethnic and religious identities."
Syriac Union Party belongs to the group Dawronoye, collaborating with Kurdish PYD. Both Dawronoye and YPG blamed ISIS and al-Qaeda for the murder of Jendo and the expulsion of the Assyrians from the Khabur. On 15 May 2015, shortly after Assyria TV had published the news about Elias Naser’s testimony, Hanna Malkis party colleague Yakub Nuhomo wrote a critical post in the Özgür Gündem and warned that the good relations between the Kurdish political movement and their Assyrian allies could deteriorate unless those responsible would be held accountable.
But from YPG no official explanation was made until May 25, 2015 when a statement in different PKK-newspapers refuted all allegations and claimed that four people had been arrested and that none of them have any connection to YPG. The statement is in Turkish and says:
"Bu iddia tamamen gerçeklerden uzak olup Bölge halkları arasına tu sokmaya çalışan birkaç kişinin işidir. Oysa şüphelenilen kişilerin YPG'yle bir ilişkileri yoktur."
It means: "This accusation is completely unrealistic and is the work of a few individuals’ attempt to sow division among different ethnic groups in the area. The [arrested] suspects have no connection at all to YPG."
But on its website in English of the same day YPG writes:
“The allegations and accusations published in the media about the murder, accusing the People's Defense Units [YPG], were totally incorrect by means of proposing to achieve malicious goals, which can ignite sedition and hit region components together. The truth is the murder suspects are individuals and they do not represent the YPG and our position as the People's Defense Units. As well as we are obliged to do our duty to protect our Assyrian and Arab brothers”.
YPG's statement also clearly shows the Kurdish organizations' aspirations to kurdify the entire area of Gozarto [al-Jazira], using Kurdish names both for towns and the Assyrian guards of the Khabur. Its real name is Natore d-Khabur, but in YPG's statement in Turkish it is called Zîrevanên Xabûr. At the end of the statement YPG says the following, after taking on the role of defenders of Arabs, Kurds and Assyrians in the area:
”Burada çok açıktır ki, söz konusu olayda bir tarafı itham eden kesimlerin yada kişilerin amacı Asuri, Süryani halkını uzaklaştırmak ve savunmasız kılarak DAIŞ vahşetine karşı kendilerini yalnız bırakmaktır.”
It means: "It is obvious that the parties or persons who accuse a specific party for the deed, have the intention to alienate the Assyrians [from YPG] and leave them alone and defenseless against the barbarism of ISIS."
The statement is a whitewash and a veiled threat at the same time. It is also contradictive when claiming that its purpose is to make the Assyrians defenseless. The one who has testified about the perpetrators’ identity is the seriously injured Elias Naser. He has testified at his "death bed", after being close to death. He was about to give his life for his people in his position as leader of the Assyrian guards. Therefore, it would be strange for him or the Assyrian activists and organizations pointing out YPG, to want to leave their own people without defense in the hands of "the barbaric ISIS". It falls on its own absurdity. Instead of taking its responsibility for the attack and punishing those responsible, YPG rubs salt in the wounds of the Assyrians and insults the victims in particular and the Assyrian people in general. We do not know which suspects they have arrested and where they are today. Elias Naser’s testimony says that two of the five perpetrators are leaders in YPG and are not from Syria. It would not surprise me if they are back in Turkey and perhaps relaxing in a tourist retreat, as "punishment" for their attack on the Assyrian leaders.