Democratic Union Party (PYD)

The Democratic Union Party (PYD) is a left-wing Kurdish political party operating primarily in the Democratic Federation of Northern Syria. Founded in 2003, the PYD began as an offshoot of the  Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) looking to expand into Syria. The PYD faced repression and censorship at the hands of the Assad government, with prominent members like PYD Co-founder Salih Muslim being imprisoned, and demonstrations shut down. When the civil war began in Syria in 2011, the PYD became the founding member of the broader coalition, the Movement for a Democratic Society (TEV-DEM). The Movement advocates a model of a multiethnic, pluralistic, gender equal, confederated Syria. The PYD is the major political party behind the Kurdish People’s Defense Units (YPG) which operate as part of the larger, U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF). The ideology  espoused by the PYD is heavily rooted in the theories and ideals of the Kurdish nationalist leader and political theorist, Abdullah Ocalan. Ocalan’s philosophy, as adopted by the PYD, has resulted in the creation of a democratic, decentralized polity in Northern and Eastern Syria, jointly administered by many bodies and organizations.