MESOP “PYD-OFFICE PARIS”: PKK/PYD KNOWS – YOU HAVE TO ACCEPT ASSAD FOR TO BE INVITED TO THE GENEVA TABLE

Syrian PKK/PYD Kurds blame Syrian Western-backed opposition

24 May 2016 – MESOP  – A senior official from Syrian’s northern Kurdish region has blamed the main Western-backed Syrian opposition in the country and said the oppositions have gained little by demanding the fall of President Bashar al-Assad other than fuelling killings and the refugee crisis.

“The problem is not the fall of Assad or people that are ruling, but changing (the) system,” Sinam Mohamed, a member of the Syrian Kurdish Democratic Union (PYD) told reporters in Paris.”It’s not matter of fighting Assad or not. It’s how do you change the system from a dictatorship into a democratic system in Syria. Look at the other opposition, they called for the fall of Assad, but they have gained nothing but killing and many refugees,” she said.The PYD has been left out of the faltering Geneva peace process, where the main Western, Arab and Turkish-backed High Negotiations Committee (HNC) opposition group has suspended its participation after it accused the government of breaking a fragile truce and blocking aid to besieged areas.

The HNC, which does include Kurdish groups, has accused the PYD and its allies of tacitly supporting Assad. Sinam Mohamed was speaking after opening a fourth overseas representative office for Rojava following similar moves in Moscow, Berlin and Stockholm. She said they aimed at giving the Syrian Kurds a voice overseas and promoting them as the best military force to defeat Islamic State militants in Syria. “Our priority is to defeat terrorism and build stability in Syria,” Mohamed said.

The French foreign ministry said it did not recognize the legitimacy of the Kurdish representative office. However, France is part of the U.S.-led coalition that is carrying out air strikes in support of the PYD’s military wing, the YPG, and groups fighting with it as they make advances toward Islamic State’s bastion of Raqqa. www.mesop.de