A statement about the attack by Democratic Union Party militants on the peaceful gathering called for by the Kurdish National Council in Qamishlo

Yekiti Media

The Kurdish National Council in Syria called for a peaceful mass protest this Monday afternoon (July 1, 2024) in front of the United Nations headquarters in Qamishlo, Condemning the continued kidnapping of Democratic Union Party (PYD) militants, fifteen members of the Council, including male and female journalists, some of whom have been detained for more than three months, without their families knowing any information about their fate and whereabouts.

To prevent mass protest, militants of the Revolutionary Youth (Ciwanên şoreşger) of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party and PYD militants closed the gathering place and prevented the protesters from reaching the sit-in site.

As a result, the Council decided to change the gathering location to in front of the Council’s General Secretariat headquarters in the Al-Siyahi neighborhood.

During the gathering of peaceful protesters, dozens of militants from the Revolutionary Youth  (Ciwanên şoreşger) affiliated with the Kurdistan Workers’ Party and PYD militants attacked the protesters. Among them were women, who were severely beaten with batons, sticks, and stones, resulting in more than thirty people being injured, some of them seriously, including children and women, chanting slogans in support of the Kurdistan Workers Party.

They also kidnapped more than twenty people from the council’s supporters and members, including members of the council’s presidency and the general secretariat, and women from the families of the kidnapped. They were all released hours later.
More than ten cars, belonging to civilians living in the neighborhood where the council headquarters are located, were also vandalized and destroyed by Revolutionary Youth militants.

The Kurdish National Council condemns in the strongest terms the incident of the barbaric and brutal attack on peaceful protesters and holds the PYD and the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) fully responsible for this attack, which shows the falsity of their claim to democratic values ​​and the protection of human rights.

The Council also calls on societal activities from all components and concerned human rights and international organizations, especially the United States of America, to denounce this crime against peaceful protesters and the Kurdish National Council.

It demands an end to the terrorist practices carried out by PYD militants against freedom of political action and against the peaceful activity of the Kurdish National Council, which will continue to defend the goals for which it struggles in order to secure freedom for the masses of our people and achieve their legitimate national rights in a democratic Syria that is safe for all Syrians.

Qamishlo 1/7/2024
General Secretariat of the Kurdish National Council in Syria