Ankara's Afrin plan triggers acrimony among Kurds
Turkey is proposing a diverse governing council for Afrin, but some suspect the idea is really a disguise for Turkish rule.
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As Turkey works to set up a new system of governance in recently captured Afrin, Syria, it is also rekindling discord among rival Kurdish groups.
Kurds who oppose the Democratic Union Party (PYD) recently met under Ankara’s auspices in Gaziantep, Turkey, to form the Afrin Liberation Congress. This first move toward new rule in Afrin was denounced as a betrayal by other Kurdish parties that have been working for autonomy in northern Syria. Mutual recriminations between the parties are gaining momentum. Anti-PYD Kurds have joined Turkey’s campaign to demonize the PYD, thus contributing to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s narrative: “We will deliver Afrin to its true owners.”