ERBIL, Kurdistan Region of Iraq - During the second meeting to unify the Kurdish stance in Syria between the Kurdish National Council (KNC or ENKS) and Mazloum Abdi, commander-in-chief of the ruling Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), both sides announced they agreed to jointly hold talks with the new authorities in Damascus to guarantee Kurdish rights.
The meeting which was held on Tuesday was "very positive,” Sulaiman Oso, a member of the ENKS leadership council, told The New Region.
"Both sides agreed that we must have a joint plan, viewpoint, program, and a single discourse,” Oso said, adding they will form a joint committee "for talks with the new Syrian administration.”
For his part, and following the meeting, Abdi said they will “visit Damascus as one team.”
The meeting comes as President Masoud Barzani plays a mediatory role between the US-backed SDF and the ENKS to help establish a united front for talks with the new administration in Damascus to safeguard the Kurdish nation’s rights in the country.
On January 16, President Masoud Barzani met with SDF General Commander Abdi in Pirmam, Erbil. This long-overdue meeting was welcomed by Kurds across political and ideological divides in the region and beyond.
Last Thursday, Kurdistan Region Prime Minister Masrour Barzani met with Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shaibani in Davos, discussing the need to safeguard Kurdish rights in the country.
During the meeting, Shibani said “Kurds are our sisters and brothers and are an important component of Syria. We assure that their rights will be protected."
The collapse of Assad and Turkey’s ongoing military campaigns along with their allied opposition rebel groups on the Kurdish enclave in Syria has once again brought up the issue of Kurdish disunity, a serious development emboldening Syrian Kurds to merge their enclaves and reach an agreement to engage in talks with the international players and new authorities in Damascus.
President Barzani has repeatedly called on Kurdish parties of Syria to cast aside their differences and unite their fronts.
Turkey considers the People’s Protection Units (YPG), the backbone of the SDF that controls the Syrian Kurdish region, to be inextricably linked to its domestic foe, the PKK. However, the YPG insists that they merely subscribe to a similar ideology.
The SDF, considered the Kurdish de facto army in Syria and the US’ primary ally in the fight against the Islamic State (ISIS) in the country, controls the bulk of northeastern and eastern regions of Syria, amounting to a quarter of the country's territory.
Telegram
