THE ÖCALAN & THE HAKAN FIDAN FACTOR
PYD co-president, Salih Muslim, said that, “Syria is worried about the peace process between Ocalan and Turkey because it might lead to more cooperation between Kurdish forces and the Free Syrian Army.”
In Syria, Ankara-PKK Talks Draw Kurdish and Arab Forces Together
RUDAW – 27.4.2013 – ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – Kurdish forces in Syria are drawing closer to the main Free Syrian Army (FSA) in the fight to oust the Damascus regime, as a consequence of the historic peace talks between Ankara and the militant Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), observers and opposition officials say. In the Syrian uprising, which is now in its third year and in which 70,000 people have died, the Kurds have been divided among themselves, and also have stayed out of the larger, predominantly Arab opposition for complex reasons. Before peace talks that Ankara opened early this year with the jailed PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan, it was accused by the Syrian Kurdish groups of backing Arab opposition forces against the Kurds: The powerful Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD), which runs the Popular Protection Units (YPG) militia that holds sway in Syria’s northern Kurdish areas, is an offshoot of the PKK.
Early this month, joint forces of the YPG and FSA launched their first coordinated attack against regime forces, after Syrian warplanes bombed the Sheikh Maqsud neighborhood in Aleppo, killing 32 Kurdish civilians. The joint attack followed about two weeks after Ocalan called on PKK fighters in Turkey to end their three-decade armed struggle, which has killed 40,000 nationwide, saying that the fight for greater Kurdish rights would now be fought in the political battlefield.
PYD co-president, Salih Muslim, said that, “Syria is worried about the peace process between Ocalan and Turkey because it might lead to more cooperation between Kurdish forces and the Free Syrian Army.”
In a recent interview, Syrian President Bashar Assad blamed Turkey for conflicts in the Kurdish areas of Aleppo. “The bombing of Kurdish areas by the Syrian forces was triggered by the agreement between the YPG and Free Syrian Army,” political analyst Abdulla Imam told Rudaw.Before the start of the Syrian conflict, Aleppo was home to a community of 700,000 Kurds. But the vast majority were forced out due to rising violence. Abduljabar Ageed, general commander of FSA forces in Aleppo, said that, “It is true that, for the first time since the uprising, the regime began bombing the Kurdish areas. It is because the Kurds have expressed their position and are now part of the liberation movement for toppling Assad’s regime.”