The wresting of the strategic border town of Ras al-Ain on July 19 by a Syrian Kurdish militia from jihadist groups has prompted worries in Turkey that the Kurds of Syria are following in the footsteps of their brethren in Northern Iraq and are heading toward self-rule. But the chairman of the group known as the Democratic Union Party (PYD) told Al-Monitor that Turkey has “nothing to fear.” Speaking via Skype, Salih Muslim asserted, “We have no intention of breaking away from Syria, nor of setting up a federal entity along the lines of the Kurdistan Regional Government in Northern Iraq.”

All that Syria’s Kurds want is to be able to freely express their long and brutally suppressed identity and to run their own affairs in a string of largely Kurdish-populated enclaves along the Turkish border. The PYD won control over these a year ago when President Bashar al-Assad re-deployed his forces to fight opposition rebels elsewhere in Syria.

As fellow Al-Monitor contributor Wladimir van Wilgenburg outlined in a recent and thorough piece, the PYD has announced plans to form a “transitional authority” cobbled together from rival Kurdish groups, Arabs and other minorities. The group would be tasked with organizing elections within six months to elect a “Popular Council” to run the Kurdish-controlled areas. Ankara reacted angrily to the scheme, claiming that Assad, who is bent on revenge for Turkey’s support for rebels seeking his overthrow, was “behind it all.” Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said, “We cannot accept any de facto ethnic or sectarian-based situations; this will only deepen the conflict [in Syria]."

“From here on, we will respond in the most effective and immediate manner to any threat to our border security,” Davutoglu added. Even as he spoke, the Turkish army began deploying forces in Mardin province near Ras al-Ain. The Turkish General Staff said in a statement on July 21 that it had returned fire after several shells landed in the Turkish border town of Ceylanpinar.