Today I asked KNC leader Abdel Hakim Al-Bashar if he knew how many Syrian Kurds now live in Turkey. Al-Bashar: "400,000." 400,000? "The Syrian Kurdish immigrants in Turkey are 400,000, 250,000 in Iraqi Kurdistan, and several 1,000s in Europe. Most of the immigrants are in Turkey"

Al-Bashar himself had to leave behind his medical clinic in Qamishli after dead threats and resides in Erbil. His party fellow Nasredine Barheik stayed after these threats and did not survive an assassination attempt by PKK militants.

Since I came for the first time to the Syrian border in March 2016 I ran into many Syrian Kurds in Turkey. In Gaziantep, Kilis, Istanbul, Suruc, Sanliurfa, Mardin. So I knew, it must be a substantial number.

Today I was introduced to Abdolaziz Tammo. I casually asked him: Are you a relative of Mashaal Tammo (the popular Syrian Kurdish politician who was murdered)? He: I am his brother.

Tammo is chairman of the Association of Independent Kurds in Syria, which is a part of the Syrian National Coalition. He told me about his meeting with fmr US envoy James Jeffrey..

Tammo: "We had a meeting, we independent Kurds + with us were 20 persons from Kobani. The topic was: why don't the inhabitants of Kobani return to their areas. 173,000. He had statistics with him, Mr James Jeffrey, becuz the number of Syrian Kurds from Kobani at the border is..

Tammo: ".. 173,000. Why don't they go back? That was the question."

Tammo: "Arab Baggara and Sharabiyyeen clans were by far the biggest part of SDF in Ra's al-Ayn. Not the Kurds. Their houses are all emptied and property taken by the Arab brigades (in the Peace Spring Operation)."

Note to self. Map the Baggara tribe clan by clan (person by person) because they really fight on all sides of the Syrian conflict...with the well known Nawaf al-Bashir going from regime to opposition and back..

Tammo: "Before the Peace Spring Operation there were about 84,000 inhabitants in Ra's al-Ayn, with max 23,000 Kurds, 1/3. The rest Arabs, some Syriacs, Turkmenes, Chechens. About 60 Kurdish families returned. The vast majority, Arabs, Kurds and others did not return."

SDC spox in Qamishli told me that SDF in Ra's al-Ayn was 60% Arabs. Both ways, majority Arabs.