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People's Defense Units

"YPG" redirects here. For other uses, see YPG (disambiguation).
Not to be confused with Women's Protection Units or People's Defense Forces.

People's Defense Units
Yekîneyên Parastina Gel
Flag of the YPG
Active2011–present
Allegiance Kurdish Supreme Committee (2011–2013)[1]
Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (2013–present)[2]
TypeParamilitary
Light infantry
Motorized infantry
Size100,000 (Including YPJ, 2017 estimate)[3]
Part of Syrian Democratic Forces
Engagements
WebsiteOfficial website
Commanders
General CommanderMahmoud Berkhadan
SpokespersonNuri Mahmoud
Notable
commanders		Zainab Afrin

Nalîn Dêrik Sozdar Dêrik Serhildan Garisî

Rêdûr Khalil
SDF-controlled territory (green), Turkish-occupied Afrin (red) in October 2018

The People's Defense Units (YPG),[a] also called People's Protection Units, is a libertarian socialist[4] US-backed[5][6] Kurdish militant group in Syria and the primary component of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF).[7][8]

The YPG mostly consists of Kurds, but also includes Arabs and foreign volunteers; it is closely allied to the Syriac Military Council, an Assyrian militia. The YPG was formed in 2011. It expanded rapidly in the Syrian Civil War and came to predominate over other armed Syrian Kurdish groups. A sister militia, the Women's Protection Units (YPJ), fights alongside them. The YPG is active in the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (Rojava), particularly in its Kurdish regions.

In early 2015, the group won a major victory over the Islamic State (IS) during the siege of Kobanî, where the YPG began to receive air and ground support from the United States and other Combined Joint Task Force – Operation Inherent Resolve militaries. Since then, the YPG has primarily fought against IS, as well as on occasion fighting other Syrian rebel groups and the Turkish Armed Forces.[9] In late 2015, the YPG became part of the SDF, an umbrella group intended to better incorporate Arabs and minorities into the war effort. In 2016–2017, the SDF's Raqqa campaign led to the liberation of the city of Raqqa, the Islamic State's de facto capital. Several western sources have described the YPG as the "most effective" force in fighting IS in Syria.[10][11]

According to Turkey[12] and Qatar,[13] the YPG is a terrorist organization[14][15][16] due to its association with the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK),[17] which is listed as a terrorist organization. The flag of the YPG is also a banned symbol in Germany as per Strafgesetzbuch section 86a,[18][19] although the organization itself is not recognised as terrorist.[20] Finland and Sweden's alleged support for the YPG is one of the points which caused Turkey to oppose Finland and Sweden's NATO accession bid.[21][22] YPG was included in the declaration in the trilateral memorandum signed by Turkey, Finland and Sweden during the NATO summit in Madrid on 28 June 2022, but did not define it as a terrorist organization.[23] In June 2022, then–Finnish President Sauli Niinistö announced in Madrid, after the agreement with Turkey, that Finland does not see the YPG as a terrorist organization and that Finland will continue to support the YPG.[24] The Turkish terror classification is not shared by key international bodies in the fight against the Islamic State in which the YPG takes part.[25] Due to this Turkish view, US Army Special Operations Commander General Raymond Thomas suggested the YPG to change their name, after which the name of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) was found.[26][27]

  1. ^ Cite error: The named reference casualties was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ "PYD announces surprise interim government in Syria's Kurdish regions". Rudaw. 13 November 2013. Retrieved 9 October 2014.
  3. ^ Rashid (2018), p. 16.
  4. ^ "Christian foreign fighters deserting Kurdish YPG in Syria because they're 'damn Reds'". Middle East Eye. 7 August 2017. Retrieved 4 December 2024.
  5. ^ "The People's Protection Units' Branding Problem Syrian Kurds and Potential Destabilization in Northeastern Syria". Army University Press. Retrieved 4 December 2024.
  6. ^ "The U.S.-YPG Relationship: U.S. Foreign Policy & the Future of the Kurds in Syria and Turkey - Middle East Policy Council". Middle East Policy Council. 4 September 2019. Retrieved 4 December 2024.
  7. ^ Barfi, Barak (April 2016). "Ascent of the PYD and the SDF". Washington Institute for Near East Policy.
  8. ^ Cook, Steven A. (25 February 2016). "Who Exactly Are 'the Kurds'?". The Atlantic. Retrieved 16 February 2017.
  9. ^ "Kurdish Forces Bolster Assad in Aleppo". Washington Institute for Near East Policy. 29 July 2016. Retrieved 17 March 2017.
  10. ^ "Turkey v Syria's Kurds v Islamic State". BBC. 23 August 2016.
  11. ^ "US troops wearing YPG patches in Syria". Business Insider. 27 May 2016.
  12. ^ "PKK / Rep. of Turkey Ministry of Foreign Affairs". www.mfa.gov.tr. Retrieved 26 May 2022.
  13. ^ "Syrian terrorist list produces 163 names and no agreement". Reuters. 16 January 2018.
  14. ^ Lin, Christina (2015). "Turkey's Double Standard on Terrorism: Accuses BBC of supporting PKK, backs other groups from China, Russia and US" (PDF). Institute for Strategic, Political, Security and Economic Consultancy.
  15. ^ Turak, Natasha (23 May 2022). "Conflict, politics and history: Why Turkey is standing in the way of both Sweden and Finland's NATO bids". CNBC. Retrieved 26 May 2022.
  16. ^ Bayer, Lili (20 May 2022). "Sweden blasts Turkish 'disinformation' as Erdoğan delays NATO accession". Politico. Retrieved 26 May 2022.
  17. ^ Cite error: The named reference DNI2018 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  18. ^ "German police raid leftist for posting Kurdish YPG flag | DW | 19 August 2017". Deutsche Welle. Retrieved 16 June 2022.
  19. ^ "German lawmaker sparks criticism after displaying banned YPG flag in parliament". Daily Sabah. 21 November 2017. Retrieved 16 June 2022.
  20. ^ Yücel, Deniz (24 February 2016). "Gute Kurden, böse Kurden. Wer ist Terrorist?" [Good Kurds, bad Kurds. Who is terrorist?]. Die Welt (in German). Berlin. Retrieved 4 February 2018.
  21. ^ Kerem, Schamberger (24 May 2022). "Der türkische NATO-Krieg gegen Kurdistan". Jacobin (in German). Retrieved 26 May 2022.
  22. ^ Richard, Milne (20 May 2022). "Sweden's Nato ambitions run into Kurdish row". Financial Times. Retrieved 26 May 2022.
  23. ^ "NATO deal with Sweden and Finland: Ankara celebrates 'national victory,' worries mount in Stockholm". Le Monde. 29 June 2022.
  24. ^ "Finlandiya: YPG'ye terör örgütü demedik, değişen bir şey yok" (in Turkish). Diken. 30 June 2022.
  25. ^ Deewanee, Azad (March 2022). "The Democratic Union Party (PYD) and the People's Protection Units (YPG) in Turkish Official Discourse". World Affairs. 185 (1): 59–90. doi:10.1177/00438200211063520. ISSN 0043-8200. S2CID 244947795 – via SAGE.
  26. ^ Ali, Sangar (22 July 2017). "We told YPG to change brand name in 2015: US General". Kurdistan 24.
  27. ^ "U.S. general told Syria's YPG: 'You have got to change your brand'". Reuters. 21 July 2017. Retrieved 9 January 2023.


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