BRUSSELS — The leader of the biggest Syrian Kurdish party has suggesteds that the Western countries are pushing the Kurds to talk to President Bashar al-Assad by forcing them to be either part of the opposition or the regime delegation in Geneva II. But he says there is no difference between the Syrian government or the opposition in terms of Kurdish rights.

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.

The Syrian Kurds were repressed by the Syrian government for decades and did not want to join any government delegation. Since 2011, they have become more independent and have been ruling the majority of their own areas. In late January, three local administrations in the Kurdish enclaves of Afrin, Kobani and Hassakeh were created in cooperation with other ethnic and religious minorities.

Nevertheless, the PYD was still critical of the regime that has repressed it in cooperation with Turkey since its creation in 2003. Muslim told Al-Monitor, “Until now, PYD members were jailed, captured and many of them killed by torture. If [the Assad government] calls for the Kurds, the Kurds cannot trust them. Actually, they have called us many times to have separate discussions.”