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The Turkish state-run media has revealed another fact that allegedly thereatens the Turkish security.
According to Anadolu Agency, “Bashar al-Assad’s regime” and the Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD; a political wing of Kurdish militias described as terrorist groups by Ankara) share revenues from oil fields clocated in the Syrian province of Hasakah.
“PKK/PYD and the Assad regime together controls nine oil fields in the Al-Hasakah province, three of which are currently active and 6 are inactive, according to local sources.
The PKK, listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the U.S., and the EU, has waged a terror campaign against Turkey for more than 30 years, during which more than 40,000 people have been killed. It is also involved in illicit drug production, manufacture, and trafficking,” Anadolu Agency’s article reads.
According to Turkey, the PYD is just a branch of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), a militant group operating in southern Turkey and in northern Iraq.
“Approximately 30-35 thousand barrels of oil per day is produced from nearly 350 small oil wells located in the war-torn country’s southwestern As-Suwayda city, the oil rich city of Rimelan and Karacok in northeast Syria.
Recently, the PKK/PYD handed over the control of oil production in the Rimelan region to the Assad regime and a revenue sharing agreement was signed between the sides.
According to the agreement, the Assad regime will earn 65 percent of the revenue while the PKK/PYD will obtain 20 percent. The PKK/PYD gives the remaining revenue to local Arab forces that are responsible for the protection of the fields. The Assad regime supplies salaries of the guards and other workers.
Despite the agreement, the PKK/PYD still keeps an office in the Rimelan region where their officers provide reports on oil production to the organization.
The oil that is produced from these fields is transported to refineries in Syrian regime-held Homs via trucks. Entrepeneur Husam Katirci, a close associate of the Assad family, oversees the oil transfer.
Oil produced from Al-Hasakah is targeted for Iraq’s Sinjar district,” the state-run agency reported.
While according to Syrian experts the economic cooperation between the Syrian government and the PYD will contribute to a peaceful solution of some existing differences between the two sides, Ankara looks determined to describe it as a threat to Turkey’s security.
