Turkey’s problem with Syrian Kurds far from over
Ankara has accepted the Russian proposal to have Kurdish participation in Syrian national reconciliation while excluding the PYD, but the latter will remain the elephant in the room.
One concrete result from the meeting between Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Russian President Vladimir Putin in Ankara on Dec. 11 seems to be Turkey’s acceptance of Kurdish participation in the Russian-sponsored Syrian National Dialogue Congress planned for early 2018.
But Turkey’s precondition remains the same — namely that the Democratic Union Party (PYD) and its military wing, the People's Protection Units (YPG), are excluded from this congress. Ankara says these are terrorist groups linked to the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) and refuses to participate in any effort to bring peace to Syria that includes them.
Moscow, however, has refused to list the PYD or the PKK as a terrorist organization. Ankara took exception some months ago when Moscow invited the PYD to take part in national reconciliation efforts in Syria. Following his meeting with Putin and Iranian President Hassan Rouhani in Sochi at the end of November, Erdogan reiterated Ankara’s position. “No one should expect us to sit under the same roof or come together on the same platform with a terrorist organization that threatens our national security,” Erdogan said during the press conference the three leaders held after their talks.
Nevertheless, it is not clear yet if Moscow has, in fact, agreed to ditch the PYD for Turkey’s sake. Some suggest that Moscow is seeking to get this group to participate in the National Dialogue Congress under a different name, which it hopes will be more palatable for Ankara.
