Syria: Kurds

(asked on 8th January 2018) - View Source

Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what (1) diplomatic, (2) military, and (3) humanitarian, training and support they have provided to the Democratic Federation of Northern Syria, also known as Rojava, in the last two years.


Answered by
 Portrait
Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon
Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
This question was answered on 17th January 2018

We maintain political and diplomatic contact with a number of Kurdish groups to influence their policy and work towards a political solution to the conflict, encouraging commitment to pluralism and pressing for cooperation with the wider Syrian opposition. We have used our occasional contact with the PYD to express concern over reports of human rights abuses by its associated security forces and over links with both the Assad regime and the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK).

The UK does not provide any direct assistance to the Kurdistan Regional Government of Iraq (YPG) or the Democratic Union Party (PYD). As part of the Global Coalition, we have provided military support including airstrikes to the Syrian Democratic Forces, of which the YPG are a contingent part, in the campaign to remove Daesh from Eastern Syria. We have also provided humanitarian and limited stabilisation support to address the immediate needs of the local population in Eastern Syria.

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