organization:democratic union party (pyd)

Does Syria really want to reconcile with Kurds?
▻http://al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2017/01/turkey-syria-kurds-are-working-to-build-a-state.html

After two meetings arranged by Russians at Khmeimim air base between the regime and the Kurds, a third meeting was held in Damascus, but without any representatives of TEV-DEM and the Kurdish nationalist Democratic Union Party (PYD), the dominant forces of the region. Only the less influential groups were invited, which raised questions about Damascus’ intentions.

Alloush said that was a regime tactic to avoid a solution. “The PYD was not at Damascus because it has a defined, concrete project. Other Kurdish movements were there because they have no projects. In fact, our project is more suitable to the Syrian system," he said, noting that the other groups want an independent Kurdistan. “The regime knows this, and that is why it invites parties it cannot reconcile with. The regime has reconciliation feasibility with the PYD, but the regime doesn’t want reconciliation.”

Inviting only Kurds to these meetings was not realistic, as Kurds are working with other communities. I asked Iso Gweriye, the head of the Syria Union Party and a member of the Syrian Democratic Assembly, about the nature of the Damascus meeting.

Read more: ▻http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2017/01/turkey-syria-kurds-are-working-to-build-a-state.html#ixzz4XNQAz6V7

Le PYD kurde annonce unilatéralement la création d’une région fédérale (autonome) au nord-est de la Syrie (Qamishli-Kobané), en pleine discussion à Genève (dont les Kurdes ne font pas partie) :
Dépêche AP :
▻http://bigstory.ap.org/urn:publicid:ap.org:6bfb16dc44214b5bb8fb4bbb204e3589

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.

Et dans le même temps le YPG kurde semble mettre un coup de pression au gouvernement en assiégeant le quartier-général des Forces de Défense Nationale (milice pro-régime) dans la ville kurde de Qamishli.

Erdogan n’a pas aimé la visite de Brett Mc Gurk à Kobané. Ni non plus la jolie photo souvenir qui a émergé sur twitter : ▻http://seenthis.net/messages/456795#message456837
Certes Brett avait fait des efforts pour ne pas mentionner sur les réseaux sociaux le nom ni un insigne du YPG, lorsqu’il a évoqué son voyage à Kobané à la veille des pourparlers de Genève dont le YPG était exclu. Seulement une rencontre avec les SDF, ce qui est très différent comme chacun sait : ▻http://seenthis.net/messages/456490
Erdogan calls on US to choose between Turkey or Syrian Kurds
▻http://news.yahoo.com/erdogan-calls-us-choose-between-turkey-syrian-kurds-145705967.html?soc_s

Istanbul (AFP) - Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan expressed anger over a US official’s visit to a Kurdish militia group controlling the Syrian town of Kobane, urging Washington to choose between Turkey and the “terrorists” there.
A delegation including senior US diplomat Brett McGurk, special envoy to an international coalition fighting IS in Syria and Iraq, last week met members of the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG), a powerful militia that is in control of Kobane.
The meetings come after the YPG’s political wing, the Democratic Union Party (PYD), was excluded from new peace talks in Geneva being organised by the UN. Ankara had threatened to boycott the talks if PYD was invited.
“He visits Kobane at the time of the Geneva talks and is awarded a plaque by a so-called YPG general?” Erdogan told reporters on his plane returning from a trip to Latin America and to Senegal.

#YPG #SDF #Erdogan

PKK being ‘legitimized,’ Turkish army chief says - POLITICS
▻http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/pkk-being-legitimized-turkish-army-chief-says.aspx?pageID=238&nID

The outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) and the Democratic Union Party (PYD), an offshoot of the PKK, are being legitimized thanks to their fight against jihadists in Syria, Turkish Chief of Staff Gen. Necdet Özel has said.

“The developments in the Middle East and North Africa make it hard to have optimistic predictions. The current situation in Iraq and Syria caused [the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant] ISIL to get stronger amid the flow of radical fighters into the region. It also caused the PKK and PYD to be seen as a legitimate force fighting against ISIL rather than focusing on their identity as a terror organization,” he said.

“The separatists terror organization [PKK] is attempting to increase its gains in Syria and Iraq, as well as to create a public perception that its extensions in the other countries are innocent groups,” Özel said in an interview with Defense and Aviation Magazine.

Özel also warned that the risk of a conventional war in the region had not yet disappeared, recalling the conflicts and polarizations based on economic interests and decreasing resources.

As-Safir Newspaper - Wassim Ibrahim: Salih Muslim calls for action to avoid Kobani ’slaughter’ :: English
▻http://assafir.com/Article/50/375685

The Syrian Kurds are currently facing a life-or-death battle against the Islamic State (IS). Their city, Ayn al-Arab (Kobani), awaits “a new massacre,” unless a change is brought about, according to Salih Muslim, leader of the [Syrian Kurdish] Democratic Union Party (PYD). Muslim has been shocked by the international silence concerning the plight of Kurds in Syria.

In an interview with As-Safir, he expressed concern that IS is too free to use its heavy weapons to besiege their city, which is already encircled by Turkey. In his opinion, it’s ironic that IS is besieging them thanks to US weapons, while the latter is leading an international coalition against IS, without aiming to lift the blockade. These doubts culminated with Turkey’s quest to establish a buffer zone that will be fought by the PYD, believing it to be an occupation.

Kurdish groups committing rights abuses says #HRW
▻http://english.al-akhbar.com/content/kurdish-groups-committing-rights-abuses-says-hrw

Kurds in parts of northern #syria have carried out arbitrary arrests and failed to investigate the killings and disappearance of political opponents, Human Rights Watch said on Thursday in a report documenting rights abuses. The Democratic Union Party (PYD), an offshoot of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) in neighbouring Turkey, has run three Kurdish enclaves in northern Syria since 2012, when Syrian government forces withdrew from the areas. read more

#ISIS #Kurds

Syrian Kurds recruit regime loyalists to fight jihadists - Al-Monitor: the Pulse of the Middle East
▻http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2014/02/pyd-kurds-syria-regime-assad-autonomy.html

According to local Arab and Kurdish sources, the Democratic Union Party (PYD) has been enlisting Arab loyalists in its armed wing, the People’s Protection Units (YPG), in a bid to boost its credibility among Arabs and join efforts with the Syrian regime on the battleground against the opposition. This military strategy was reportedly accompanied by some intense consultations held in Qamishli between the regime and its Arab allies immediately before the formation of the PYD-led autonomous government on Jan. 21.

In an exclusive interview in Brussels with Al-Monitor, Salih Muslim, co-chair of the Democratic Union Party (PYD), said the Kurds were not willing to talk to the Syrian regime, but that they did not rule this out in the future. The Western countries blocked the PYD from going to the Geneva II conference, although Russia was willing to include the Kurds.

Read more: ▻http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2014/01/pyd-leader-geneva-ii-include-syrian-kurds.html#ixzz2s4qH3cJ2

Syria’s Kurds move towards autonomy with announcement of transitional government
▻http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/syrias-kurds-move-towards-autonomy-with-announcement-of-transitional-

The Democratic Union Party (PYD) – the largest Kurdish party in Syria – made the announcement following a meeting in the northern city of Qamishli that involved Christian and Arab groups from across the Kurdish-dominated areas of north-east Syria.

The plan calls for the creation of a parliament of 82 members elected from three cantons across the region, which will each have their own local assemblies.

“This administration will be democratically elected and we think it will be integral in the future for democratic Syria,” a PYD spokesman told The Independent.