AhlulBayt News Agency: After takeover of Damascus by the Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham-led armed groups, Syria developments have fanned the concerns of regional countries especially neighbors about the consequences of instability in this country.
Meanwhile, while the Iraqi government is most concerned about the return of instability to Syria, the leaders of Iraqi Kurdistan region in Erbil have pursued parallel diplomacy independent of Baghdad in this regard, and in recent weeks, there have been interactions and negotiations between them and the Syrian Kurds that could have an impact on the course of developments in the country.
In the first step, Hamid al-Darbandi, an envoy of Massoud Barzani, the head of the Kurdistan Democratic Party, visited eastern Syria and met separately with Mazloum Abdi, the commander of the Kurdish-majority Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) and the chairman of the Kurdish "National Council", to learn and trade views on recent developments in Syria and their position towards Damascus.
Following this visit, Mazloum Abdi visited Erbil on Thursday to continue the negotiations on the Iraqi soil.
According to a statement of Barzani's office, Barzani and Abdi discussed Syria situation and the latest security and political developments. The meeting, the statement said, saw the two sides discussing the way the Kurds would deal with the new conditions and taking joint stances on the Syrian Kurds.
According to the statement, the meeting emphasized that Kurdish parties in Syria should decide their own fate without interference from any other party and through peaceful means, in a way that guarantees their rights to unity and solidarity with the new regime. Also, the Syrian rulers should reach an understanding and agreement and be a party in security, peace and stability, and prevent the repetition of the tragedies that befell the Kurdish people and other minorities in Syria.
Hoshyar Zebari, a member of the Kurdistan Democratic Party, commented on details of Abdi’s meeting with Barzani, saying: “This meeting is considered an important achievement to strengthen the unity of the Kurds and consolidate their position vis-à-vis the new Syrian rulers in Damascus, in order to achieve a peaceful political transition.”
“The meeting with Barzani was a discussion of the process of change in Syria, and we emphasized that the Kurdish position in Syria must be unified,” Abdi wrote in a post on his X.
“Barzani and Abdi’s talks focused on uniting the Kurdish position inside Syria and exploring ways to separate the SDF from the PKK. Barzani believes that such a move could open the door to broader international support, especially through the KDP’s ties with the United States and Turkey,” a Kurdish region official told the AP.
Rojava unity in the new chapter of history of Syrian Kurds
Abdi's Erbil visit and his meeting with Barzani is not an ordinary visit and actually it is a response to Barzani's initiative to unite the Kurds in Syria.
The relation between KDP and the Democratic Unity Party (PYD) as the largest party running the autonomous Kurdistan region in northeastern Syria has been frayed following the PYD's alignment with the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) terrorist group.
The PKK is on Ankara's terror blacklist, and under this pretext, the Turkish army has established and practically occupied large areas of northern Iraq and Syria over the past decade, posing a major challenge to Ankara-Erbil relations.
In October 2014, Barzani led an initiative to unite the ranks of the Kurds in Syria, and Duhok city in northern Iraq hosted several meetings between the PYD and the Kurdish National Council (composed of parties and groups opposed to the PYD in Syria), which led to the signing of the Duhok Agreement that established a Kurdish political authority from the two main parties with a representation ratio of 40 percent for each and for the other parties not involved in these two blocs, and the achievement of effective participation for all parties and components in the autonomy and development of the current form of administration of the Kurdish regions.
But the deal was not implemented, leading to migration of the PYD opponents to the Iraqi Kurdistan region and allowing the tensions to unfold. However, with the fall of the al-Assad government in Damascus, efforts to unify the ranks of the Kurds in Syria with the aim of negotiating with the new ruling body and securing the rights of the Kurds in the political future of the country increased once again, especially since, given the conditions prevailing in the region, Kurdish unity could increase Erbil's political weight in regional equations and relations with neighbors.
Barzanis mediate between Syrian Kurds and Turkey
The meeting comes at a time when Turkey has called on the new rulers of Damascus to eliminate the Syrian Kurdish organization or Turkey will take direct military action. Earlier, there were reports that Barzani might mediate between the Syrian Kurds and Turkey.
Since Barzani has developed friendly relations with Turkey in recent years and has been able to export the region's oil and gas abroad with the help of Ankara and earn huge income, he is trying to use his friendship with Ankara and, as a mediator in relations between Turkey and the Syrian Kurds, find a solution to ease tensions between the two sides.
With Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan threatening to "bury" the Syrian Kurds with their arms if they do not lay them down, the Kurdish region’s leaders are seeking a solution to dissuade Turkey and Tahrir al-Sham’s operations against the Syrian Kurds.
“Iraqi Kurdish forces are seeking political solutions in line with foreign diplomacy between Turkey and the Syrian Kurdish forces that will benefit both sides to prevent further escalation of the conflict,” said Jamil al-Haraki, a member of the KDP. The visit of Masrour Barzani, the region’s prime minister, to Ankara two weeks ago and his meeting with Erdogan also focused on developments in Syria and the Kurdish issue.
The Barzanis are seeking to persuade SDF as the military wing of the PYD to end cooperation with the PKK in order to eliminate any excuse for Ankara's military actions.
Since Turkey’s only excuse is the existence of the PKK next to its borders, measures have been taken to address its concerns. In this regard, a PKK official told Reuters that the militant group is willing to end its presence in Syria, provided that the Kurds maintain a leadership role in their areas.
“Any initiative that leads to the administration of northeastern Syria by the Syrian Democratic Forces or gives them a significant role in a joint leadership will force the PKK to agree to leave this area," he maintained.
Therefore, if Barzani can convince Turkey and Tahrir al-Sham to grant autonomy to the SDF under the rule of Damascus, Ankara’s security concerns will also be met. This is the same scenario that was carried out based on the Iran-Iraq security agreement, leading to terrorist and separatist groups' withdrawal from the Iranian borders. So, Barzani can implement the same plan in northern Syria and force Ankara to stop operations against the Kurds by expelling the PKK.
On the other hand, Barzani hopes that with the help of the administration of US President Donald Trump, he can force Turkey to retreat from its positions in order to protect the Kurds from threats by this country.
Erbil's concerns and challenges
Erbil leaders are afraid that Turkish and Tahrir Al-Sham attacks against and disarmament of the Syrian Kurds who had a role in the fight against ISIS terrorist group can prepare the ground for return of terrorists to eastern Syria and Iraq.
In the current security vacuum, and while the regular Syrian army is totally collapsed, there are concerns about the resurgence of ISIS. As ISIS sleeper cells have taken advantage of the recent instability in Syria and occupied areas, there is a concern that these threats will spill over into Iraq and the Kurdistan region, as they did in 2014.
Barzani and the leaders of Erbil believe that the presence of Syrian Kurds can prevent ISIS from gaining power, and they are trying to maintain the relative autonomy of the Kurds in Syria through interaction with Turkey and Tahrir Al-Sham so that ISIS terrorists cannot regain power.
On the other hand, Turkey is ready for no compromises in dealing with the Kurds and insists on their destruction, excessive insistence on supporting Syrian Kurdish groups could exacerbate tensions between Erbil and Ankara. Having in mind that Kurdistan prime minister's meeting with Erdogan also failed to reach a conclusion regarding the Syrian Kurds, there is concern that Barzani's possible mediation with Ankara's leaders will also end in failure.
According to some observers, the SDF does not seem willing to abandon the basic principles for which it was founded, namely, maintaining its weapons and military organization until a political consensus and a clear form for the new Syrian government are reached, because the Kurds believe that disarmament could mean the destruction of everything they have sought to achieve over the past years. Therefore, the Kurds' insistence on keeping their weapons and Turkey's insistence on disarming them are serious barriers to the success of Barzani's mediation.
It is noteworthy that the Kurdistan region has been involved in numerous mediations between Syrian Kurds for years, some of which have resulted in written political agreements that have not been implemented in practice, but observers note that the current political situation is very specific and is likely to be an encouraging impetus for further rapprochement among Syrian Kurdish political forces.
Anyway, as long as the status of the terrorist groups in northern Syria is not determined and anti-Turkish threats are not eliminated, efforts by Erbil leaders for mediation between Ankara and the Syrian Kurds will yield no success.
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