The Kurdish autonomous administration has banned displaced Arab families from entering territory it controls in northern Hassakeh province as a top Kurdish official demanded the UN endorses a plan making Kurdish-held areas a “safe zone."
Asayish security forces denied entry to dozens of displaced families in Ras al-Ayn and nearby districts, local activists told Zaman al-Wasl on Wednesday.
Weeks ago, Asayish cancelled a decision demanding displaced Arab families, who are fleeing the ongoing fight between the US-formed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) and Islamic State group in northern Syria, to have a Kurdish sponsor.
Meanwhile, the co-chair of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Council, Elham Ahmed, proposed a plan to the UN through media outlets to designate SDF-controlled areas as the location for a Syrian buffer zone instead of the planned Turkish zone.
Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said Thursday that the Syrian Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD), like the Islamic State group, seeks to divide Syria, adding that the country's territorial integrity must be preserved, Reuters reported.
"The aim of the PYD and (its armed wing) the YPG is clear, just like [ISIS] they want to divide Syria to form their own management," Cavusoglu told Anadolu Agency in an interview broadcast live on television.
"As the international support group, our aim is not to divide the Syrian territory but to protect its territorial integrity," Cavusoglu said.
This article was edited by The Syrian Observer. Responsibility for the information and views set out in this article lies entirely with the author.
