SDF woos Syrian Kurdish rivals in wake of Turkish assault
Could the Syrian Democratic Forces and the Iraqi Kurdish-backed Kurdish National Council, long at loggerheads, come to an accord in the wake of Turkey's invasion of Kurdish-administered areas of Syria?
ERBIL, Iraq —Turkey’s Oct. 9 offensive in northeastern Syria was meant to shatter the Syrian Kurds’ doggedly nurtured autonomy project. It succeeded — at least partially. Their US protectors have pulled back from the length of the Turkish border they once jointly controlled with the People’s Protection Units (YPG). Turkey has wrested control of the towns of Ras al-Ain and Tell Abyad and the stretch of land that lies between, disrupting communications between majority Kurdish towns. Turkish artillery continues to claim civilian lives as Ankara's Syrian Arab proxies engage in war crimes. The future of the Syrian Kurds has never looked more uncertain.
But one unintended — and neglected — effect of Turkish aggression has been to rekindle reconciliation attempts between the YPG’s political arm, the Democratic Union Party (PYD), and its rivals who are united under the banner of the Kurdish National Council.
Since Oct. 25, top Kurdish National Council officials have met once with Mazlum Kobane, the commander of the US-backed and YPG-dominated Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) and twice with senior SDF officials led by Redur Xelil inside northeast Syria, the council's de facto foreign minister, Kamran Hajo, confirmed in an interview with Al-Monitor.
Most notably, the meetings took place at the SDF’s behest and this comes after years of snubbing the Kurdish National Council as inept and weak.
