Rojava’s Gire Spi declares autonomy

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — Representatives of ethnic communities in the Kurdish-controlled city of Tal Abyad in Syria—or Gire Spi as it is known in Kurdish—met Wednesday to declare a self-autonomous region and joint administration, an official from Syrian Kurdistan (Rojava) confirmed to Rudaw by phone.

"All elements in the township of Gire Spi will take part in its administration," Mansur Selum, the director of the Gire Spi Democratic Autonomous Administration affiliated with the Kobanê Canton—and a newly elected co-president of the area—told Rudaw.

However, Assad al-Bashir, a representative of the Turkmen community in Rojava, slammed the self-autonomous region, telling Rudaw "the Turkmen do not agree with the administration."

The meeting ended with the election of co-presidents Selum and Leyla Mustafa, and the formation of nine committees to operate the government.

The takeover of the town of Gire Spi by the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) in early June marked the biggest setback yet for ISIS and put even more pressure on ISIS’ self-declared capital in Raqqa by depriving the group of a direct route for bringing in foreign fighters and supplies from Turkey.