ERBIL, Iraq — The recent declaration of a federal structure in northern Syria by the local Kurdish administration and its Arab and Assyrian allies is likely to put the Syrian Kurds further at odds with neighboring Turkey, as it will pose serious challenges to Ankara amid renewed conflict with its own Kurds.

The announcement of the Federal Democratic System of Rojava and Northern Syria on March 17 by the dominant Kurdish group, the Democratic Union Party (PYD), and other groups in the area, coincided with a new round of peace talks between the regime of President Bashar al-Assad and armed opposition groups in Geneva. The PYD has been excluded from the talks at the behest of Turkey and opposition groups that view the Kurdish group with suspicion, due to presumed links with the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) and perceived cooperation with Assad’s regime. The PYD has denied these charges.

Both the Assad regime and opposition forces have rejected the Kurdish-sponsored federal region, seeing it as a move toward the eventual partition of the conflict-stricken country. Rival Syrian Kurdish groups have also opposed the PYD move, seeing it as a unilateral measure.

The federal zone includes the three cantons of Rojava — Jazira, Kobani and Afrin — as well as Tell Abyad and areas in northern Aleppo governorate that have been captured by Kurdish forces over the past year.