Syria’s Kurds Divided Over Geneva II Conference - Al-Monitor: The Middle Eastʼs leading independent news source since 2012

Wladimir van Wilgenburg (Syria Pulse)

Wladimir van Wilgenburg (Syria Pulse)

Oct 9, 2013

A Free Syrian Army fighter carrying his weapon, walks along a street as Syrian opposition (bottom) and Popular Protection Units (YPG) flags flutter, in Aleppo's Sheikh Maqsoud neighbourhood, June 7, 2013. Kurdish fighters from the Popular Protection Units (YPG) joined the Free Syrian Army fighters to fight against forces loyal to Syria's President Bashar al-Assad. Picture taken June 7, 2013. REUTERS/Muzaffar Salman (SYRIA - Tags: CIVIL UNREST POLITICS CONFLICT) - RTX10USV — A Free Syrian Army fighter carrying his weapon walks along a street as flags from the Syrian opposition (bottom) and the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) flutter, in Aleppo's Sheikh Maqsoud neighborhood, June 7, 2013. — REUTERS/Muzaffar Salman

A Kurdish female fighter from the Popular Protection Units (YPG) carries a walkie-talkie as she stands near fellow fighters carrying their weapons and using binoculars in the Kurdish town of Ifrin, in Aleppo's countryside October 14, 2013. Kurds comprise around 10 percent of Syria's 23 million population. They are concentrated in Ifrin and other areas of the northwest, in parts of Damascus and in the northeastern oil producing area of Qamishli, where there has also been intense fighting between Kurds and al

Syrian Kurds Beset by Divisions

Wladimir van Wilgenburg (Syria Pulse)

Wladimir van Wilgenburg (Syria Pulse)

People sit in the back of a truck as they celebrate what they said was the liberation of villages from Islamist rebels near the city of Ras al-Ain in the province of Hasakah, after capturing it from Islamist rebels November 6, 2013. Redur Xelil, spokesman for the armed wing of the Syrian Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD), said Kurdish militias had seized the city of Ras al-Ain and all its surrounding villages. Syrian Kurdish fighters have captured more territory from Islamist rebels in northeastern Syria

Syrian Kurds discuss differences over Geneva II

Wladimir van Wilgenburg (Syria Pulse)

Wladimir van Wilgenburg (Syria Pulse)

Kurdish protesters shout slogans during a rally in Athens January 18, 2014. A few hundred members of the Kurdish community in Greece marched to the office of the European Commission to request that the situation of Kurds in Syria be discussed at the upcoming Geneva 2 Conference. REUTERS/Giorgos Moutafis (GREECE - Tags: POLITICS SOCIETY IMMIGRATION CIVIL UNREST) - RTX17JVY

Syrian Kurds feel left out of Geneva II

Wladimir van Wilgenburg (Syria Pulse)

Wladimir van Wilgenburg (Syria Pulse)

Syrian Kurds demonstrators hold flags and portraits of jailed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) leader Abdullah Ocalan during a protest in Derik, Hasakah November 1, 2012. Around 1,000 Syrian Kurds protested in the north-eastern Syrian town of Derik on Thursday, demanding the re-opening of Kurdish-language schools they said were closed by President's Bashar al-Assad's regime. REUTERS/Thaier al-Sudani (SYRIA - Tags: POLITICS CIVIL UNREST CONFLICT EDUCATION) - RTR39VNY

Russia Enlists Syrian Kurds For Geneva II

Wladimir van Wilgenburg (Syria Pulse)

Wladimir van Wilgenburg (Syria Pulse)