MESOP REPORT : Syrian Opposition Meets with Kurdish National Council – The meeting emphasised the importance of working jointly against Assad

 Basnews – 16.07.2015 – ISTANBUL – The Political Committee of the Syrian Coalition met with a delegation from the Kurdish National Council on Tuesday, the coalition says. The meeting emphasised the importance of working jointly against Assad and stressed the integrity of the Syrian territories and unity of its people. They discussed greater cooperation and coordination between the two parties and the fundamental role of the Kurdish bloc in the Syrian Coalition play.

The agenda also covered the proposed instigation of the document signed between the Syrian Coalition and the Kurdish National Council and the need to introduce the Kurdish issue at the elite and popular levels. The membership of the Kurdish National Council (KNC) of the Syrian opposition bloc has led to tensions with the Democratic Union Party (PYD). The Syrian Coalition has repeatedly accused the security forces of the PYD of carrying out ethnic cleansing against local Arabs and Turkmen in the mixed town of Tal Abyad, which the PYD says is part of a media campaign of outside forces.Prominent members of the KNC denied the accusations of the Syrian Coalition, but so far have not said they would leave the coalition. Mohammed Ismail, a leading member of the Kurdistan Democratic Party of Syria, (KDP-S) told the news website Welati that the liberation of Tal Abyad is very important, and the allegations of ethnic cleansing are not true, adding that those who raised their voices said nothing when ethnic cleansing was carried out against Kurds.