PYD not to participate in Astana peace talks: Turkey FM

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region (Kurdistan24) - The ruling Democratic Union Party (PYD) of Syrian Kurdistan is to be excluded from a series of negotiations brokered by Turkey and Russia for a political settlement of the six-year-long civil war in Syria.

The anticipated peace talks are to be held in Kazakhstan's capital Astana on a yet-undecided date.

Turkey's Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said on Friday that his country was "from the very beginning telling Russia that PYD was a terrorist organization."

Russia has not designated any Kurdish group as terrorist.

The Astana talks will follow a tentative ceasefire that began on the zero hour of Friday between Syrian armed opposition groups and the Baath regime.

Although Turkey vowed to continue confronting PYD's US-backed armed wing People's Protection Units (YPG), President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said the ceasefire excluded only United Nations-sanctioned groups such as the Islamic State (IS) and al-Qaeda's Syrian franchise Jabhat al-Nusra.

Cavusoglu recalled previous peace talks in which Turkey successfully blocked Kurdish participation as a third side.

"The PYD used to demand to join Geneva talks. We took a very clear stance. The [Syrian] rebels took a clear stance that PYD is a terror group," Cavusoglu told reporters in the Turkish city of Antalya in remarks relayed by the private-owned Dogan news agency.

No Kurdish faction was present on its own at the United Nations-initiated, short-lasting Geneva talks in February 2016, despite objections by Russia which was antagonistic toward Turkey over its shootdown of a Russian warplane near Syrian border several months earlier.

Cavusoglu added the PYD could be invited to future peace talks only if it committed to the national and territorial unity of Syria.

PYD declared a federal system earlier in 2016 but has not asked for independence.

Editing by Ava Homa