Syrian Opposition, Kurd Agreement Irrelevant Without PYD
The Syrian National Coalition will need to reach an agreement with the powerful Democratic Union Party if it truly wants to win Kurdish support.
QAMISHLI, Syria — The Syrian National Coalition (SNC) approved on Sept. 16 the first agreement to incorporate a major Kurdish bloc, the Kurdish National Council (KNC). Despite reservations on both sides, the two groupings are supposed to meet to announce the alliance officially by the end September.
However, on Sept. 8, the KNC reached a separate deal with the other main Kurdish alliance — the People's Council of West Kurdistan (PCWK) — which is affiliated with the Democratic Union Party (PYD), to draft the constitution of a transitional Kurdish government to be elected 4 to 6 months later.
The KNC signed the latter agreement as a member of the Kurdish Supreme Committee (KSC), a coalition formed with the PCWK in 2012, even though such an initiative remains completely unrecognized by the SNC. Since the threat of a US military strike on Syria has dwindled, the Russian backing received from the KSC to represent Syrian Kurds at Geneva II rules out any withdrawal of the KNC from this coalition.
Further complicating the picture, the main Kurdish militia — the PYD-controlled Popular Protection Units (YPG) — rejects any agreement with the SNC, as long as they do not condemn the attacks launched by Islamist opposition groups on the Kurdish regions. Despite the concessions obtained from the SNC, the KNC is aware that Arab-Kurdish reconciliation is not compatible with the isolation of the PYD.
