YPG: Kurds will attend Sochi Congress as Erdogan blasts Assad
WASHINGTON DC, United States (Kurdistan24) – The commander of the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) in Syria said on Wednesday that Moscow had promised Kurds in Rojava that they would be represented at peace talks on Syria to be held next month in Russia, Reuters reported.
Gen. Sipan Hemo explained that Russia had said that 155 representatives from that area would be invited to attend the Syrian National Dialogue Congress, scheduled for Jan. 29-30 in the Black Sea resort of Sochi.
Plans to hold the conference were announced on Dec. 22 as the eighth round of talks on Syria ended in Astana, Kazakhstan. The Astana negotiations have been sponsored by Russia, Iran, and Turkey over the past year.
At the conclusion of the Astana talks, Aleksandr Lavrentiev, Russian President Vladimir Putin’s Special Envoy on Syria, said there would be Kurdish representation at Sochi, but that it would not include the YPG or its political arm, the Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD), in deference to Turkish objections.
After a year in which Turkey appeared to be coordinating with Russia and Iran on Syria’s future, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan suddenly seemed to split with them.
On Wednesday, Erdogan reversed his earlier position in a joint press conference in Tunis with Tunisian President Beji Caid Essebsi, as the Turkish President denounced Assad as “a terrorist involved in state terrorism.”
“It is impossible to continue with Assad,” Erdogan said. “How can we embrace the future with a Syrian president who has killed close to a million of his citizens?” he asked.
Russia’s invitation to the PYD/YPG to attend the Sochi talks—an invitation that Moscow was not prepared to make just six days ago—and Erdogan’s sudden denunciation of Assad would seem to be linked, but the reason for the sudden shifts is not clear.
One explanation may lie in Saudi Arabia. Riyadh strongly opposes Assad’s continued rule, and on Monday, a group of 40 Saudi-backed opposition groups announced that they would not attend the Sochi conference.
On Tuesday, Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yıldırim began a two-day visit to Riyadh where he met King Salman and his son, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. Afterwards, Yildirim announced that the Saudi Crown Prince would “soon” visit Turkey.
Did Riyadh manage to pull Turkey back into the anti-Assad camp? If so, that would explain why Moscow is now reaching out to the PYD/YPG, as well as Syrian elements allied with them, and inviting their representatives to participate in next month’s talks in Sochi.
Editing by Nadia Riva