Syria's Kurdish National Council opens diplomatic mission in Germany

QAMISHLO, Syrian Kurdistan (Kurdistan24) – The German government approved the opening of a foreign representative office for Syria’s Kurdish National Council (ENKS in Kurdish), officials said on Sunday.

Speaking to Kurdistan24, Nimet Dawud, a member of ENKS’ foreign committee, said their council exerted strenuous efforts to obtain the approval from the German Federal Foreign Office to open a diplomatic mission in Berlin.

“Syrian Kurds can practice their political activities on a larger scale,” he said referring to the role their foreign office may play.

The German concerned authorities could not be reached for comment. 

The ENKS representative office in Berlin is the second one after the group opened a foreign office in Geneva last year.

ENKS, one of the two main political blocks in Syrian Kurdistan (Rojava), is an umbrella body based in Erbil made up of smaller Syrian Kurdish political parties.

The political group is ideologically linked to the Kurdistan Regional Government’s (KRG) Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK).

Moreover, ENKS has experienced tense relations with the Democratic Union Party (PYD), Rojava’s main ruling party.

Additionally, the PYD-led council that rules Rojava has opened many diplomatic missions in European countries, including France, Germany, and Russia.

The PYD are currently planning to open one in Washington.

SYRIAN-KURDISH INTERNAL CONFLICT

After the breakout of the Syrian civil war in 2011, Syrian Kurds were fractured into two main councils: TEV-DEM and ENKS.

One council rules the Kurdish-held areas in Rojava called the Movement for a Democratic Society (TEV-DEM in Kurdish).

TEV-DEM, a political coalition led by the PYD and other Kurdish parties, is operating a system of three “autonomous administrations.”

These administrations include Jazira, Kobani, and Afrin in Syria’s north, with independent police forces and schools.

The federal system, declared by TEV-DEM on March 17, would unite these cantons under a single administrative unit.

The other Syrian Kurdish Council, ENKS, was founded in Erbil on Oct. 26, 2011, with the support of the President of the Kurdistan Region Masoud Barzani.

ENKS was part of the Turkey-based Syrian Arab opposition and had been in political conflicts with the PYD-led administration of Rojava.

Editing by Karzan Sulaivany 

(Additional reporting by Delovan Chatto from Qamishlo)