RAS AL-AIN, Syria — After discussions and debates over more than 10 months, four Kurdish political parties backed by Massoud Barzani, president of the Kurdistan Regional Government, decided to unite one week ago into a single party under the banner of the Kurdistan Democratic Party of Syria (KDP-S), currently led by Abdulhakim Bashar. The four parties are: the Freedom Party (led by Mustafa Cumma), Freedom Party (led by Mustafa Osso), Kurdistani United Party (Abdulbasit Hemo), and  KDP-S. The Democratic Union Party (PYD), backed by the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), however, remains the strongest Kurdish organization on the ground.

The Syrian Kurdish parties are sharply divided into several blocs. As indicated above, among them are those backed by or close to Barzani, who also heads the powerful Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP), which recently won legislative elections in Iraqi Kurdistan, taking 38 of 111 seats.

A number of Kurdish parties work with the PKK-affiliated PYD, which is the only party in control of security organizations, the People’s Defense Units and the Asayish (Kurdish for "security"). This is due to the PKK’s insurgent background fighting against the Turkish government for almost 30 years.

“There are two key parties: the KDP [in Iraq] and the PKK. The other Kurdish political parties don’t have a lot of influence,” Ibrahim Birro, leader of the Kurdish Unity Party, told Al-Monitor in Erbil.