ERBIL, Kurdistan Region of Iraq - The Kurdish National Council (KNC or ENKS) announced Friday its withdrawal from the National Coalition of Syrian Revolution and Opposition Forces (SNRC).
The Turkey-backed SNRC is a political organization established in 2012 during the civil war to mobilize opposition movements to overthrow Bashar al-Assad’s regime.
The alliance was founded in Qatar, and its headquarters is in Istanbul.
"The revolution has ended,” said Faisal Yousif, spokesperson for the ENKS.
Yousif added that Bashar al-Assad has been ousted and that “a new phase has begun.”
"We have decided to withdraw from the National Coalition of Syrian Revolution,” he said, adding that steps have been taken to form a Kurdish front to engage in talks with the new Damascus authorities.
“We are emphasizing Kurdish unity, and to have a single Kurdish discourse, and go to Damascus united,” he said.
The Kurdish opposition group’s decision came just three days after they congratulated Ahmed al-Sharaa on assuming the presidency of Syria, calling for adopting dialogue, rejecting violence, and “establishing a system based on the principle of equal citizenship and the rule of law” to tackle the current challenges in the country.
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.
The ENKS, an umbrella of Kurdish opposition parties, and Mazloum Abdi, commander-in-chief of the ruling Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) have so far held two meetings since Assad’s December ouster, agreeing to jointly hold talks with the new authorities in Damascus to guarantee Kurdish rights, with President Masoud Barzani playing a pivotal role in bringing the rival Kurdish sides of Syria closer together.
“We will visit Damascus as one team,” Abdi said following his second meeting with the ENKS leadership delegation.
On January 16, President 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.
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 the northeastern and eastern regions of Syria, amounting to a quarter of the country's territory.
During the World Economic Forum in Davos, 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.
“Kurds are our sisters and brothers and are an important component of Syria,” Shaibani said during the meeting. "We assure that their rights will be protected."
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