Foreign Relations Commission of North and East Syria demands disclosure of fate of representatives arrest by security forces in Kurdistan Region of Iraq

NORTH AND EAST SYRIA — On Thursday, the Foreign Relations Commission of the Democratic Autonomous Administration (DAA) of North and East Syria issued a statement concerning the arrest of the DAA Representative to the Kurdistan Region of Iraq (KRI) and two members of the Democratic Union Party (PYD) Relations Office in Erbil by the security forces of the Kurdistan Democratic Party (Hizba Dêmokrata Kurdistanê, KDP).

“Today, we received the news of the arrest of DAA Representative Jihad Hasan and PYD Relations Office members Mustafa Khalil and Mustafa Aziz by KRI security forces while they were on their way to Erbil International Airport,” said the statement. “Despite our attempts to know about the fate of our comrades, their status is still unknown.”

“No comment or clarification from the KRI security authorities has been received so far about the reason for the arrest,” the statement continued.

The statement argued that these measures increase tension and weaken the course of dialogue and called on all KRI parties to avoid being drawn into Turkish attempts to sow discord between Kurdish parties which would disrupt the path of historical transformation that the Kurdish issue has reached.