News

West Kurdistan cantons linked after IS defeat close to Girê Sipî

YPG-YPJ militia, backed by FSA and US-led coalition, get land bridge between Kobanê and Cizîrê cantons for the first time since the war started · Kurdish-Arab alliance enters Girê Sipî · YPG blamed for expelling Arabs, Turkmens · Militia, SOHR deny allegations, say no planned ethnic cleansing campaign exists

West Kurdistan cantons of Kobanê and Cizîrê are physically linked since yesterday after mainly Kurdish YPG-YPJ militias -backed by mainly Arab Free Syrian Army (FSA) units and by airstrikes from the US-led coalition- managed to connect both territories, which up till now had been separated by an Islamic State-held area around Girê Sipî (Tel Abyad in Arabic).

Jihadists in Girê Sipî have thus lost land connexion with IS capital city Raqqa. Media reports on the ground suggest that YPG forces have entered Girê Sipî and are in control of at least the city centre and its eastern neighbourhoods. Meanwhile, thousands are trying to flee to Turkey -the city is just on the Syrian-Turkish border.

This a new, major blow for IS, which is now deprived from control over a border crossing to Turkey near Raqqa. Nevertheless, the Islamic State is still in control of a border region spanning from east of Azaz -a city held by Syrian rebels- to Jarabulus, a city close to the western border of the canton of Kobanê. This IS-held region is now preventing the canton of Efrîn from being linked to the two other West Kurdish cantons.

mapa_kurdistan_occidental

When the three West Kurdish cantons were self-proclaimed in 2012,YPG senior leaders said their ultimate goal was to physically connect all three territories. They have now reached half that goal.

The Girê Sipî region has an Arab majority population, but important Kurdish and Turkmen communities also exist there. Before the city was occupied by the IS, 30% to 40% of Girê Sipî's population was Kurdish. Most of them fled as jihadists entered the city.

Controversial statements against the YPG on alleged ethnic cleansing

Arab and Turkmen refugees have reported that, in their advance towards Girê Sipî, the YPG have expelled members of both communities in an effort to ethnically cleanse the area and thus create a Kurdish demographic majority. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has also echoed the allegations. According to another news report, 10,000 Arabs have been expelled from several regions of West Kurdistan over the past six months.

The YPG say those are baseless allegations that are being produced as a propaganda tool against them. The mainly Kurdish militia insists that Arabs and Assyrians are fighting within its ranks, and that allegations against the YPG just want to destroy "local's people unity."

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) argues that no YPG-led planned campaign of ethnic cleansing exists in the region. In any case, SOHR points out that "there are violations by individuals from the YPG, but not in a systematic way."

(Top image: A YPG militiaman on the outskirts of Girê Sipî / ANHA news agency screenshot.)