ERBIL, Kurdistan Region of Iraq - The pro-Kurdish Peoples' Equality and Democracy Party (DEM Party) has urged Rojava officials, including Ilham Ahmed and Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) chief Mazloum Abdi, to attend its international conference in Istanbul this weekend despite Turkish politicial opposition.

On Tuesday, DEM Party co-chair Tuncer Bakirhan said Ahmed was invited to the party’s international conference in Istanbul, noting she had agreed to attend but has not yet responded, and added that the government should facilitate her visit.

The conference is scheduled for Saturday and Sunday in Istanbul, bringing together Kurdish representatives to discuss dialogue, the ongoing peace process, and regional developments.

“As the DEM Party, our request is that Ilham Ahmed be able to participate in this conference. Just as Ms. Ahmed was able to participate in the [MEPS25] conference in Duhok, she should also be able to participate in the conference in Istanbul,” party spokesperson Aysegul Dogan said on Thursday during a presser. 

On November 19, Abdi and Ahmed, the latter of whom serves as the co-chair of the Foreign Relations Department of the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES), attended a high-level event in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq with top Kurdish leaders in attendance.

Dogan stressed that “the main debate surrounding this conference has centered on Ilham Ahmed.”

The Kurdish issue and regional developments “should be discussed in their original place, in Turkey, in Istanbul,” she said, noting that the topic has long been debated in Western and other forums.

She said the issue has been framed as a “legal obstacle,” which she called a “political reason,” adding that “not only Ms. Ahmed but also Mr. Mazloum Abdi should come,” and expressed the DEM Party’s hope that “these so-called obstacles can be overcome” to allow Rojava authorities to attend the conference for dialogue.

Delegates from the Kurdistan Region will attend the event, with Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) set to be represented by Amina Zakri, the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) by Dara Khalani, the Kurdistan Region Presidency by Dilshad Shahab, and Kurdistan Region Prime Minister Masrour Barzani by Bayan Abdul Rahman.

Reacting to the recent invitation, Turkey’s AK Party spokesperson Omer Celik said on Thursday that Rojava officials must first meet their obligations and then abandon their weapons, criticizing the SDF commander’s stance as violating Syria’s territorial integrity and calling the group a “threat to Turkey” under the PKK umbrella.

Ankara, a strategic ally to the new Syrian government, has repeatedly called on the SDF to implement the March 10 agreement and integrate its forces into the Syrian state apparatus. 

The US-backed SDF is the global coalition’s main ally on the ground in the fight against the Islamic State (ISIS) and is the de facto army in Rojava.

Kurds and other minorities in Syria have called for decentralized governance, a request Damascus has firmly rejected.