INTERVIEW - Ex-SDF man tells of US support for PKK/PYD

ANKARA, TURKEY - DECEMBER 01: Interview of a former spokesperson and defector from the Syrian SDF, a group dominated by the terrorist PKK/PYD, on December 01, 2017. Talal Silo, a former high-ranking commander, and spokesperson of the U.S.-backed force who defected from the terrorist group last month, is currently in Turkey. QUESTION: Is the U.S. attitude of protecting the YPG also valid for Afrin? ANSWER: The U.S. did not pledge about Afrin. Even I asked McGurk [U.S. Special Representative for fighting Daesh] at our first meeting. At that time, Afrin did not have any communication [with the eastern areas]. I asked him about support to Afrin. He said that as the U.S. government they will not support Afrin. This happened at our first meeting. He said: ‘If Afrin wants another supporter, it should find one’. I said: ‘Maybe the Russian side’. He said: ‘There is no obstacle for us’. Then, Assad's cousin Hussein Assad called me. He told me to establish a line between the SDF and the Russians positioned at Khmeimim base. I told about the issue to Sahin Cilo. He said that the line will disturb the U.S. But Sipan Hamo [so-called general commander of YPG] wanted to communicate with the Russians. Then I told this to Hussein Assad. The communication line with the Russians was established. They were nestling to Russians in many issues.QUESTION: How worrying is Turkey's intervention in Afrin for PKK? ANSWER: If Turkish forces had intervened [in Afrin] they could have captured the city very quickly. The situation in Afrin is not like how the organization [PKK] shows outside. Therefore, they were very scared. The issue is not only the fall of Afrin. If Turkish forces cut the northern rural areas; that would mean the failure of all projects [exit to Mediterranean]. Because they thought of Afrin as the project's heart. The Turkish intervention would be the end of their dreams that they traded.(Footage by Anadolu Agency/Getty Images)