PYD co-chair, Shaoz Hesen, talks about the current state of things in Syria. 

Mr. Hesen, the Turkish state continues its occupation attacks on North East Syria, there was agreement among US and Russia and Turkey. Can you explain what is going on?

First of all, I must state that the situation in North East Syria is actually a process of chaos and what is happening in the region is closely related to every problem in Syria. The eyes of local and foreign powers in Syria are on the Rojava region, because these lands are rich in both underground resources and culturally. In addition, the democratic life built in the region, the experience gained and the high presence of Kurds in the region disturb the neighboring countries, especially the Turkish state.

Since 2011, the Turkish state has been shaping its Syrian policy, plans and projects on the territory of Rojava. It supported several mercenary groups and attacked the region. The Turkish state, which cannot get what it wants with mercenry groups like Al Nusra and ISIS, is now attempting to occupy the region itself.

Turkey is trying to prevent Kurds from having a status and along with that it is trying to crash the system built here where Arab, Syriac and Armenian peoples are living together.

We have been pushing for a resolution of any tension from the beginning with talks. On this basis there were some agreements with the USA, but every time the Turkish state carried out plans to occupy Rojava. Finally, it has launched invasion attacks using mercenary groups.

In this process, we have warned both the US and Russia that the Turkish state's invasion attempt will affect not only the Kurds but all the people of the region and will bring Syria into chaos again. If a solution is not found, we will resist any occupation. However, when the Turkish state preferred the occupation and massacre attacks, we clearly resisted.

Our resistance to the invasion has foiled Turkey's plans. Our resistance and the fact that the peoples of the world stand beside our righteous resistance have created a new agenda in the world. As such, states had to change their politics.

Then, under the request and with the approval of the SDF, the United States entered into an agreement with the Turkish state. Despite the goodwill we have shown here, the Turkish state did not comply with the agreement it made with the United States and continued its attacks on new regions and villages. They have crossed the 30-32 km border line.

After that, a ceasefire took place, agreed between Russia and the Turkish state. According to the agreement, the Turkish state would not expand the occupation area and would remain bounded within the zone it has agreed. The SDF did not know the contents of this agreement. There were negotiations with the Russians on some points of this agreement. Previously, negotiations were held with the Russians and the regime on border security.

We are continuing our efforts to reach an implementation of the agreements. The Turkish state today does not comply with the agreement it has made with the Russians, it is still carrying out occupation attacks. Despite the agreement, it also attacked the regime forces on the border. According to news, a number of regime forces have withdrawn, others have been captured.

In other words, the practice and plan of the Turkish state is based on breaking Syria and we express this in every meeting we hold. As a result of these attacks, there is currently a chaos in the region. The Turkish state does not comply with the agreements and ceasefire. Today, Erdogan talks about attacking Kobane. Erdogan wants also to reactivate ISIS with these attacks on the region.

Agreements with the Turkish state may have been made, but the war and occupation attacks are still going on. We told the US, Russia, Europe, everyone, the attacks on Rojava will deepen and this will deepen the crisis in Syria. The Turkish state will never be confined to a city in northern Syria.

In the agreement signed by both the US and Russia with the Turkish state, a 32 km area is mentioned for withdrawal. What does this mean?

The SDF mentioned no dimension when it comes to withdrawl in its statement. They just said ‘we will reasonably keep our forces away’. The Turkish state is trying to create a justification for the occupation using the excuse of 'YPG on our border ’.

On this basis, the SDF has reached an agreement with Russians and the regime in order to have regime soldiers on the borders  on the basis that both public order and civilian administration would remain as they were before. The SDF and YPG are not present in the city center, where there were only domestic defense forces. Under the agreement, if the regime's troops settled on the border, the YPG and SDF forces could pull back one step, which would not be a major problem. If they guarantee us on this and if such a solution exists, it would not be a problem for us to have Russian and regime forces on the border thus to prevent the attacks carried out by the Turkish state. The fact that the regime is on the borders is not an issue for us, we have already expressed that we are in favor of a political and negotiated solution with the regime.

All this said, if there is an attack against our region carried out by the Turkish state or another power, we will protect our people in every way we can.

Despite the statement of the Autonomous Administration which it has accepted agreements and ceasefires with the US and Russia, every statement issued by Turkey is a new threat to invade... 

We did not agree to withdraw 32 km, such a debate is wrong. We have not accepted the existence of the invaders on our land, what we accepted is a ceasefire. In this process, we are looking for a solution through negotiations with Russia, the US and European states. We tell everyone that we do not accept the Turkish state's plan to invade North East Syria and we will resist it.

We say that the ceasefire or alliances can be turned into dialogue if we are intersted in Syria's future. If the regime forces come to the border, the pretext of occupation of the Turkish state will disappear. However, if the Turks continue to stay in the region we will resist as Syrian people.

Erdogan did not accept the agreement with the United States because he wants to occupy North East Syria. We told Russia and the United States that the Turks did not respect the ceasefire and agreements. And indeed they have not.

Despite the fact that it was the one who made the agreement, Turkey is not respecting it. Russia and the US have to see Erdogan attitude. Unless the Turkish state is completely removed from the region, there is never going to be a solution to the crisis in Syria and the whole world has to see this.