Syrian Kurds fractured in Astana peace talks, PYD excluded
QAMISHLO, Syrian Kurdistan (Kurdistan24) - Syria's Kurdish National Council (ENKS) said on Tuesday it was officially invited to attend peace talks backed by Russia and Turkey in Kazakhstan, while Syrian Kurdistan's PYD-led ruling council (TEV-DEM) was excluded.
The talks are to be held on January 23 in Astana, the capital of Kazakhstan.
Speaking to Kurdistan24, Fuad Aliko, an ENKS member said many Syrian Kurdish members of the Syrian Opposition National Coalition were invited to Astana talks to represent ENKS.
"The Head of ENKS Ibrahim Biro and Abdulhakim Bashar, deputy president of the Syrian National Council were officially invited to attend the talks," he said.
The Kurdish groups YPG, PYD, and TEV-DEM that control wide areas of northern Syria were excluded from last year's peace talks in Switzerland as well.
Syrian peace discussions that were held in 2016 and are known as Geneva III also excluded the main Kurdish groups in line with the wishes of Turkey.
Sihanouk Dibo, the PYD presidential advisor in the city of Qamishlo told Kurdistan24 on Tuesday that excluding the Kurdish-led administration of northern Syria from the peace talks will exacerbate the Syrian crisis.
"Any talks without the real powerful forces in Rojava and northern Syria will definitely fail," he said.
The United States, which proposed to include the PYD in the talks, was not invited to Astana talks.
"They [PYD] have to be a part of this process, is our consideration," said the US State Department Deputy Spokesperson Mark Toner in a Press Briefing last week.
PYD was excluded in all previous peace talks held in Geneva during the past three years.
PYD officials said their exclusion was because of the Turkish intervention in the Syrian conflict.
In a previous interview with Kurdistan24, Salih Muslim, the co-leader of the PYD, said, “Turkey’s only concern in Syria is the Kurds, and not solving the dilemma in the country. This intervention for selfish purposes hinders any effort to find a solution to the crisis.”
Muslim stated that Turkey tries to stir up nationalist and anti-Kurdish sentiments among the factions of the Syrian society.
Editing by Ava Homa