Barzani discusses Afrin with Syrian Kurdish delegation

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region (Kurdistan 24) – Former Kurdistan Region President Masoud Barzani discussed the latest developments in the Kurdish enclave of Afrin with the leadership council members of the Syrian Kurdish National Council (ENKS) party on Wednesday in Erbil.

Topics of conversation included the latest political and security developments in Syrian Kurdistan (Rojava) in general and Afrin in specific, the future of the east Euphrates River, and various military and political factors in the region, according to the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) press office.

The delegates briefly talked about the ENKS relations with other political parties in Rojava and Syria, as well as recent activities of the party.

Turkey and their allied Syrian rebel groups have been conducting a military offensive in the Kurdish-held enclave to gain control of the border area and drive out fighters of the US-backed Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG). Ankara views the YPG and its all-female brigade, the YPJ, as terrorist groups, and an extension of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) which have been waging a decades-long insurgency in Turkey.

During the meeting, according to the KDP press office, the former president highlighted the future threats facing the Kurds in Syria.

Barzani was president of the Kurdistan Region from 2005 until 2017. At the end of October 2017, he rejected the notion of extending his presidential term, as he had done in earlier years. He has been the leader of the ruling Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) since 1979, following the death of his father Mullah Mustafa Barzani, a giant in the historic struggle for the Kurdish nation to many.

Since his resignation in November, Barzani officially holds no governmental post but remains the leader of the KDP, the largest and most influential party in the Kurdistan Region.

Editing by John J. Catherine