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YPG/SDF ringleader Mazlum Abdi publicly confirmed on Tuesday that PKK terrorist group Nurettin Sofi directed the group in Afrin, providing explicit acknowledgment of the PKK's direct management of YPG/SDF in Syria, according to statements made during a ceremony held in northern Syria.
The PKK-linked council announced Sofi's death, describing him as "one of the Kurdistan Liberation Movement leaders and a prominent leader of the PKK."
Mazlum Abdi stated, "Nurettin Sofi participated in the Afrin resistance and was the commander who directed the resistance there. His contribution and role were significant in all stages of the North and East Syrian Revolution."
Abdi's public acknowledgment that a PKK ringleader effectively oversaw the Afrin operation, which Türkiye fought against the SDF's YPG in early 2018, is widely seen as confirming the PKK's leadership role within the YPG/SDF structure.
The ceremony in Qamishli came after the PKK and its Syrian affiliates officially announced Nurettin Sofi's death, more than four years after he was killed.
According to PKK statements, Sofi was killed on April 6, 2021, in the Gara region of northern Iraq, but his death was only confirmed publicly on Aug. 11.
At the Qamishli ceremony, attendees openly carried PKK flags and images of Sofi.
Nurettin Sofi's death was not recent–it was the result of a covert Turkish operation in 2021. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan first announced Sofi's killing on May 17, 2021, revealing that Türkiye's National Intelligence Organization (MIT) and the Turkish Armed Forces (TAF) had killed the PKK's Syria commander in a cross-border operation in northern Iraq.
"The terrorist code-named 'Sofi Nurettin,' the PKK's Syria general commander whose location was determined after long-term work by our National Intelligence Organization, has been neutralized in an operation conducted in northern Iraq," Erdogan said during a press conference following a Cabinet meeting.
Erdogan described Sofi as responsible for numerous attacks against Turkish soldiers, including ambushes during Türkiye's Euphrates Shield (2016-17) and Olive Branch (2018) operations in Syria, as well as ordering the execution of 13 Turkish hostages in Gara, northern Iraq, in February 2021.
"This terrorist, who was responsible for many bloody actions against Türkiye, was also responsible for many attacks against our soldiers during Operations Euphrates Shield and Olive Branch. He was one of those who gave the order to murder 13 innocent people during the Gara Operation," Erdogan stated.
The president emphasized that Sofi's presence and demise in Iraq "clearly shows there is no difference between the YPG (the PKK) Syrian wing, and the PKK itself."
The Turkish Ministry of Defense highlighted Sofi's dual role across Syria and Iraq on May 18, 2021, noting that he had served as the PKK/KCK's "Syrian general officer" overseeing the YPG/PYD from 2015 to 2020.
"The fact that the terrorist code-named Sofi Nurettin, who was wanted by INTERPOL with a red notice and was the PKK/KCK-PYD/YPG's Syria General Commander between 2015-2020, crossed into northern Iraq once again reveals that YPG/PYD is the Syrian extension of the PKK/KCK terrorist organization," the ministry stated.
The developments come as U.S. officials have begun speaking more candidly about links between the SDF and the PKK.
Tom Barrack, the U.S. ambassador to Türkiye and special envoy for Syria, stated in a briefing on July that "SDF is YPG. YPG is a derivative of the PKK," explicitly acknowledging that the Kurdish force Washington partnered with against Daesh is an offshoot of the PKK.
"YPG was a spin-off of PKK that we allied with to fight Daesh," Barrack explained during a Foreign Press Center press briefing in New York on July 11.
He affirmed that Washington does not support any bid for autonomy or statehood by the SDF/YPG in Syria: "So there's a big sentiment that, because they were our partners, we owe them. The question is, what do we owe them? We don't owe them the ability to have their own independent government within a government."
"There's not an indication that there's going to be a free Kurdistan. There's no indication that there's going to be a separate SDF state. There's no indication on our part that there's going to be a separate Alawite state or a separate Jewish state. There's Syria," Barrack stated.
Following the fall of the Assad regime on Dec. 8, Türkiye has repeatedly called on the PKK/YPG to dissolve or face potential military operations. The Turkish government maintains that the SDF is led by the YPG, the Syrian branch of the PKK, which both the U.S. and Türkiye designate as a terrorist organization.
Successive U.S. administrations, including those of Presidents Donald Trump, Barack Obama, and Joe Biden, have regarded the SDF as their primary partner in fighting Daesh in Syria, despite Turkish objections. Ankara views the PKK/YPG presence near its border as a direct threat to national security and has consistently urged Washington to withdraw support for the YPG.
Turkish officials have signaled the possibility of new military operations if PKK/YPG forces remain outside of a central Syrian authority after any peace deal.
Türkiye has repeatedly called on the YPG/PKK to disarm and dissolve.
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