ALEPPO, Syria
Thousands of Turkmen from the Syrian town of Tal Abyad near the Turkish border have been forced to flee the area since the Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD) captured the flashpoint town in July, according to a Turkmen commander of the Damascus Front's Cephet-ul Samiyye, an armed opposition group.
"Residents of at least 12 predominantly-Turkmen towns in Tal Abyad were forced to evacuate their village after they were threatened by Daesh terrorists and PYD forces," Zekeriya Karsli, a front commander and an ethnic Turkmen, told Anadolu Agency.
He said that Turkmens had been forced to leave their villages by the PYD and the affiliated Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), adding that they had since been replaced by Kurds from northern Iraq.
Karsli went on to allege that the PYD had become a covert ally of the Daesh militant group.
In June, the PYD -- with the help of U.S.-led coalition airstrikes -- regained full control of Tal Abyad after having lost it earlier to Daesh.
Since then, thousands of local Turkmen have reportedly had to flee their villages in Tal Abyad after having been threatened by the PYD and the PYD’s military wing, the Syrian-Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG).
