Both the YPG and the PKK released statements that they were willing to protect the Kurds in all parts of Kurdistan, and the pro-PKK media have ended their previous media attacks that accused the KDP of treason and working with Turkey against Syrian Kurds by closing off the borders.
“Our guerrilla forces are ready to give any kind of support and fight actively, side-by-side with the peshmerga forces to protect the Kurdish people,” the PKK said in a statement on June 11, urging all Kurdish parties to hold a Kurdish national congress that was postponed as a result of political tensions.
“The current situation in the Middle East necessitates Kurdish unity, and the holding of a Kurdish national congress,” Zagros Hiwa, a PKK spokesperson, told Al-Monitor.
But peshmerga forces have politely refused any help from the PKK. Helgurd Hikmet Mela Ali, a spokesperson for the peshmerga, denied any agreement with the YPG.
“Until now there is no agreement with YPG forces, who told us they were ready to help us. But we do not need their help. The YPG is on the other side, and the peshmerga is on this [Iraqi] side. They cooperate with each other to manage this area,” he told Al-Monitor.
Mela Ali said that the YPG is in more need of cooperation with the peshmerga due to the border crossings controlled by Barzani’s forces. “Rabia is controlled by the peshmerga and Fish Khabur is controlled by the peshmerga. They have to [cooperate] because the peshmergas are in [control of] this area.”
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