Presidential elections also to take place in PYD regions

[Anthea]

The second in line after Ocalan was Sakine Cansiz.

Sakine Cansiz was nothing after she should leave guerrilla for she had some troubles with other commanders (a male coalition against her). Because she was a constant pro-Öcalan figure, and not dangerous to him, she was spared and finished her life to a secondary place (in charge of woman) : sidelines, no more.

Aysel Tugluk is the leader of the DTK and one of the architects behind HDP creation. You could call DTK the ''legal'' KCK... So she is ultimately the leader of the supreme organisation of Kurds in Northern Kurdistan and Turkey.

Parties were nothing, just puppets of PKK before the peace process. Now they are the docile executors of a peace process only decided in secret between Öcalan and MIT. Their only use is to bring messages from Öcalan to Qandil and European PKK offices.

I am sure that you know more about Sakine Cansiz than I do - but I always believed her to be fiercely in favour of an independent Kurdistan - I know that she had no time for time wasters and idiots

[Piling]

As the topic is PYD/Baath relations, always useful to read that :

http://www.crisisgroup.org/~/media/File ... e-in-syria

[Anthea]

As the topic is PYD/Baath relations, always useful to read that :

http://www.crisisgroup.org/~/media/File ... e-in-syria

The PYD also set up the People’s Tribunals (mahakim shaabiya) and a police force, the asaysh. to enforce law and order. The latter, which operates exclusively in cities, is in charge of maintaining civil order and, like the YPG, received training and monthly salaries

Where is the money coming from to pay all the wages and everything else?

[Anthea]

Particularly among the youth activists who began the uprising, Syrian Kurds fear that the PYD’s heavy-handedness bespeaks an aspiration for single-party rule. Hu-man rights abuses by YPG fighters and the asaysh; prioritising law-and-order; and arbitrary arrest, abduction and imprisonment of non-PYD activists are all too reminiscent of the Baathist regime.

A young activist from Amouda said: “I have received several threats from the PYD, which cut off my family’s electricity because of our participation in protests. The PYD imposes its rule with weapons. If we want to organise a demonstration or a meeting, we need to ask for its permission. What kind of liberation is that?”

Backs up what friends have said about the PYD being armed bullies.

An excellent report reinforces much of what we already know - might calcify a few points for some people who did not know about the Erbil agreement - well written