Syrian Kurds say they'll declare federal region in Syria

[webfact]

Syrian Kurds say they'll declare federal region in Syria
By PHILIP ISSA

BEIRUT (AP) — A powerful Kurdish party announced plans Wednesday to declare a federal region in northern Syria, an idea promptly dismissed by Turkey and Syrian government negotiators at U.N.-brokered peace talks.

The declaration was expected to be made at the end of a Kurdish conference that began Wednesday in the town of Rmeilan, in Syria's northern Hassakeh province.

It comes as the Damascus government and Western- and Saudi-backed rebels are holding peace talks with a U.N. envoy in Geneva on ways to end the devastating civil war, which this week entered its sixth year.

The main Syrian Kurdish group, the Democratic Union Party (PYD), and its military wing, the People's Protection Units (YPG), have so far been excluded from those talks so as not to anger Turkey, despite Russia's insistence that they be part of the negotiations. Ankara views the group as a terrorist organization.

Nawaf Khalil of the PYD told The Associated Press by phone from Germany, where he is based, that his party is not lobbying for a Kurdish region but an all-inclusive area with representation for Turkmen, Arabs and Kurds in northern Syria.

Salih Muslim, the co-president of the PYD, speaking to the AP in Sulaimaniyah, Iraq, that the decision to declare a federal region was not yet official, but any such announcement would be a positive step that helps keep Syria together.

He suggested the only way forward was a decentralized Syria and that any formula for that, whether federalism or autonomy, would be acceptable to the Kurds. "The name is not important," he added.

Kurds are the largest ethnic minority in Syria, making up more than 10 percent of the prewar population of 23 million. They control an area along the Turkish border stretching from Syria's far east, near the Iraqi border, to Afrin in the west, interrupted only by a stretch of territory that the Islamic State group controls.

Syria's Kurds have declared their own civil administration in three distinct enclaves, or cantons, under their control: Jazira, Kobani and Afrin.

Around 200 Kurdish representatives from those three cantons, known collectively as Western Kurdistan, or Rojava, were meeting in Rmeilan Wednesday to discuss the move.

Federalism could be a first step toward creating an autonomous region similar to the one Kurds run across the border in Iraq, where their territory is virtually a separate country. It could also usher in similar demands elsewhere in Syria and in effect lead to partition.

A Turkish Foreign Ministry official said his country rejects any moves that would compromise Syria's national unity and considers the territorial integrity of Syria as "essential."

It's up to the Syrian people to "decide on the executive and administrative structure of Syria in line with the new constitution which will be formulated through the political transition process," said the official, who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity in line with government practice.

"Unilateral moves carry no validity," the official said.

Turkey views the PYD as an extension of the Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK, which has renewed a decades-old insurgency since peace talks collapsed last year. The United States also considers the PKK a terrorist group, but both the U.S. and Russia support the YPG, which has been among the most effective forces battling the Islamic State group.

Much of Syria's border with Turkey is now controlled by the YPG-dominated Syrian Democratic Forces — an alliance that includes Kurds, Arabs and Christians — which has distinguished itself from the Syrian government and the mainstream opposition in the civil war.

Though the PYD is the predominant authority in northern Syria, it shares authority in some pockets with the Damascus government. These arrangements, around the cities of Hassakeh and Qamishli, are generally calm but sometimes flare up into confrontations.

Two days ago, Assad loyalists belonging to the National Defense Force militia clashed with Kurdish police forces in Qamishli. On Wednesday, the police arrested 60 militia members, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, an opposition group that monitors the conflict, said.

Both the Syrian government and the opposition, at least in theory, reject any form of partition. Riad Naasan Agha, a member of the Saudi-backed opposition, said such issues should be decided through Syrian institutions, including elections.

"What someone declares on their own, far away from the Syrian people, is unacceptable," Agha said.

Syria's U.N. Ambassador Bashar Ja'afari, who also heads the government team at the U.N.-brokered talks in Geneva, said the negotiations are meant to discuss preserving Syria's territorial integrity.

"Betting on creating any kind of divisions among the Syrians will be a total failure," Ja'afari said.

Russia's Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on Monday said federalization is one possible option in Syria if it is the will of the Syrian people. He said Russia will support whatever solution the government and the opposition devise to end the war, including "any form (of government) whatever it may be called: federalization, decentralization, unitary state."

The PYD's Khalil distinguished between autonomous rule over Kurdish areas — which has been in effect in Syria since 2013 — and the federalism project, which he said was ethnically inclusive.

"The federalism project is a model for all Syria," he said in a phone interview from Germany, where he is based.

The Kurdish move comes at a critical juncture in the conflict.

A two-week-old Russian and U.S.-engineered partial cease-fire is holding and peace talks resumed this week. Moreover, Russia on Tuesday began withdrawing the bulk of its troops from Syria, signaling an end to Moscow's five-and-a-half month air campaign. That move raised hopes for more meaningful discussions in Switzerland, where U.N. envoy Staffan de Mistura is shuttling between delegations from the Syrian government and the moderate, Western-backed opposition.

NATO's Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg told The Associated Press that Russia's partial withdrawal should contribute to efforts to find a peaceful solution to the Syrian conflict.

Stoltenberg, who spoke during a visit to Afghanistan, said the consequences of the withdrawal are yet to be seen but that he "would welcome any action that reduces the military tensions in Syria."
___

Associated Press writers Zeina Karam in Beirut, Dominique Soguel in Istanbul, Vladimir Isachenkov in Moscow, Jamey Keaten in Geneva and Lynne O'Donnell in Kabul contributed to this report.


-- (c) Associated Press 2016-03-17

[Credo]

This is good news for the Kurds, but I don't think any of the neighboring countries are going to take kindly to it, though.

[Rancid]

Yes, suits Israel's agenda which will help but Turkey won't be delighted. Can't see smooth sailing for that plan.

[craigt3365]

Wow. 30 some odd million Kurds without a nation. They've been fighting for their own country for a long, long time.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kurds

[bassman]

With both Russian and (American??) support the Kurds should go ahead and do it. They have been relentlessly screwed since the Brits and French left them without a homeland. Turkey under Erdogan is no friend of the west and is moving more and more towards another Islamist state. It is pathetic the way both Merkel and Obama are sucking up to Turkey and its totalitarian antics. Erdogan used the Kurds as "enemy of the state" to win the presidency. Turkey's objections to the declaration of statehood should not even be a consideration.

[Scott]

I think that if the Kurds were to go for a homeland you would see a conflict of epic proportions in the region. Turkey is not going to put up with such a move and Turkey is a very strong military power and nationalism is pervasive. It would be a bloodbath that would make Syria look like a playground.

Iraq is never going to agree to allowing the Kurds to split off and have a homeland, nor will Iran. Between them there would a real s***t storm.

It also remains to be seen how much support the Kurds themselves would have for an independent country. It would be strong, no doubt, but the Iraqi Kurds are very realistic in that they are well aware that they will be a small land-locked country, cut off from the revenue of the large oil fields and surrounded by enemies. In Iraq most of the Kurds were content to have an autonomous region. When asked, they wanted their own homeland, but realistically didn't see it as a real possibility.

The Kurds are also very diverse. Kurds are Kurd first, but there are significant linguistic differences and some dialects are actually so distant from others that they would be considered different languages by linguists. Politically, there is also a lot of infighting between various factions and tribes. They remain united, in part, because their survival depends on a certain level of unity, but an independent Kurdistan would have difficulties.

That said, in the face of adversity, the Kurds have a tendency to get it together rather quickly.

[boomerangutang]

Interesting development. Kurds should also declare their region of former northern Iraq as part of the territory, and hope the two regions connect (not like the two Palestinian regions). It will fuel conflicts in that region, but conflicts have been endemic there for 5,000+ years, with no signs of lessening. The name should be changed from Middle East to Conflict Region.

On-going wars put dampers on runaway childbirth (or does it?). One thing they don't need in the dunes is 2x, 3x or 5x more people.

[rickirs]

Russia will support ... "any form (of government) whatever it may be called: federalization, decentralization, unitary state."

My, my how fast the Heroes of Syria the Russian military flee from a mess they helped make backing Asaad given the diplomatic opportunity.

A Thai Mai Pien Rai escape.

[Ulic]

It is about time their was a Kurdistan sectioned out of Syria and Iraq. The British made a huge

mistake when the carved up the region and left no homeland for them. They are a large

ethnic group that has been treated like the red headed stepchild by all the countries

in the region.

[Scott]

Arguably, the Kurds are the largest ethnic group in the world without a state. The idea of a homeland starting in Syria, however, is rather complicated, since Syria is not a country with a large Kurdish population. Less than 10% of the Syrian population is Kurdish, whereas Turkey has around 20% and Iraq has maybe 17%.

The Kurds may be able to maintain some semblance of a state in Syria as long as the civil war exists, but once it is over, I think that such a small minority will have trouble protecting itself from the larger Arab and Turkish forces that will be opposed to it.

[Galactus]

Syrian kurds did an ethnic cleansing on the areas they claim it is their land!

Kurd deserve their own state but not on the stolen land they ethnically cleansed recently (like israel) with the guns from USA and help from Russia

and this resulted arabs and turkmens living there to migrate to turkey and Europe.

and you know, such awkward nonsense moves from Syrian kurds makes things complicated for Kurds living at other regions. with such actions, their right of a free state is getting delayed all the time.

They are just harming the way of independance of kurds, nothign else.

Plus most Syrian Kurds are a part of terrorist PKK too.