Can Turkey stomach autonomy for Syrian Kurds? Iraq offers cautionary model
Ankara’s decades-long resistance to Kurdish autonomy is being tested as Syrian Democratic Forces seem to be insisting on decentralization.
Turkey is weighing whether to tolerate a decentralized Syria if it means securing the disarmament of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), which has been waging an armed insurgency against Turkey for more than 40 years, and preserving Syria’s territorial unity.
The stalling of the March 10 deal between Damascus and the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) has pushed the question of federalism back to the center of Syria’s future — and has put Ankara in a bind. While Turkey has long rejected any form of Kurdish autonomy over fear it could fuel separatism at home, recent moves toward Kurdish reintegration into the Syrian state, coupled with a fresh disarmament call from the PKK’s imprisoned leader, Abdullah Ocalan, have complicated the picture. With pressure mounting, Turkish officials may have to choose between tolerating a decentralized Syria and risking renewed instability on both sides of the border.
During a press conference with his Qatari counterpart in Doha on April 27, Turkey’s foreign minister, Hakan Fidan, stated that Ankara is waiting “for the [March 10] agreement signed between the YPG and the Syrian government to be implemented,” in reference to the seven-item deal between Syrian President Ahmed Al-Sharaa and Mazloum Kobane, the commander of the US-backed and Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces, led by the People’s Protection Units (YPG), which is closely affiliated with the PKK.
Under the terms of the agreement, SDF forces will join those of the new Syrian state in return for Damascus recognizing Kurdish rights and implementing revenue-sharing arrangements.
