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Syrian Kurds say they’ll declare federal region in Syria Kurds plan to declare a federal region in northern Syria
(about 5 hours later)
BEIRUT — A powerful Kurdish party announced plans Wednesday to declare a federal region in northern Syria, an idea promptly dismissed by Turkey and Syrian government negotiators at U.N.-brokered peace talks. BEIRUT — Syrian Kurds are preparing a plan to declare a federal region in the area they control across northern Syria, saying Wednesday it is a model for a more decentralized government in which all ethnic groups would be represented.
The declaration was expected to be made at the end of a Kurdish conference that began Wednesday in the town of Rmeilan, in Syria’s northern Hassakeh province. Although the idea might seem like a way forward after five years of civil war, it faces big obstacles: It was promptly dismissed by the government of Syrian President Bashar Assad and the rebels who oppose him, both fearing it would lead to a partition of the country.
It comes as the Damascus government and Western- and Saudi-backed rebels are holding peace talks with a U.N. envoy in Geneva on ways to end the devastating civil war, which this week entered its sixth year. Turkey also opposes it, wary of the growing Kurdish influence in the border region of northern Syria and its effect on its own Kurdish minority.
The main Syrian Kurdish group, the Democratic Union Party (PYD), and its military wing, the People’s Protection Units (YPG), have so far been excluded from those talks so as not to anger Turkey, despite Russia’s insistence that they be part of the negotiations. Ankara views the group as a terrorist organization. But Ahmad Araj, a Kurdish official in northern Syria, insisted that a federal system containing such a region, which would effectively combine three Kurdish-led autonomous areas, is in fact meant to preserve national unity and prevent Syria from breaking up along sectarian lines.
“After all the blood that has been spilled, Syrians will not accept anything less than decentralization,” Araj said.
By making the announcement as U.N.-sponsored peace negotiations take place in Geneva, Syria’s main Kurdish faction was trying to become a major player in whatever central government emerges from the war. The faction has been excluded from the talks.
The idea of a federal region appears to have gained some traction lately as world and regional powers grapple with ways to end the conflict. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov this week said such a federal system is one possible option if the Syrian people agree to it. The U.S. also has been an ardent supporter of the Kurds in the region, helping them in navigating the delicate rivalries in Iraq after the 2003 invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein.
U.S. State Department spokesman Mark Toner told reporters that the U.S. opposes declarations of autonomous federal zones prior to a negotiated political resolution in Syria.
“We’re focused on advancing a negotiated political transition toward an inclusive government that is capable of serving the interests of all the Syrian people,” Toner said. “We’ve also been very clear that we’re committed to the unity and territorial integrity of Syria.”
However, if a resolution is reached by the Syrian people and their representative, and if it includes a federal system that allows for limited or semi-autonomy for different regions, Toner said Washington would not oppose it.
The Kurdish declaration is expected to be made at the end of a conference that began Wednesday in the town of Rmeilan, in Syria’s northern Hassakeh province, and may last several days.
The plan could make sense in a country that has a multitude of sectarian and ethnic minorities for whom it would be difficult to share a unifying national sentiment.
The government, dominated by Assad’s Alawite sect of Shiite Islam, controls Damascus, the Alawite heartland along the Mediterranean coast, and other cities and connecting corridors in between. The Kurds run their own affairs in the northeast.
The militants of the Islamic State group control much of the Sunni heartland in the east. Other Sunni rebels control pockets in the north and south. The Druze remain loyal but are starting to talk about autonomy in their southern areas as well.
Any move to carve up the country could risk yet more violence, including ethnic or sectarian cleansing.
Joshua Landis, director of Middle East studies at the University of Oklahoma, said the federalist project has logic to it, but is doomed to fail under current conditions.
“The federal system would be the way forward if people would accept it,” Landis said, “But they won’t because they don’t like each other.”
Assad’s multi-religious base and the largely secular Kurds distrust the Islamist-dominated opposition, and the opposition will not tolerate the continuation of Assad rule in any part of Syria, either in Damascus at the head of a federal government, or in the coastal region, where his Alawite supporters predominate.
In these conditions, it would be difficult for federalism to take root.
Kurds are the largest ethnic minority in Syria, making up more than 10 percent of the prewar population of 23 million. They control an area along the Turkish border stretching from eastern Syria, near the Iraqi border, to Afrin in the west, interrupted only by a stretch of territory controlled by the Islamic State group.
The Kurds declared their own civil administration in three distinct enclaves, or cantons, under their control: Jazira, Kobani and Afrin, in 2013.
Federalism could be a first step toward creating an autonomous region similar to the one operated by the Kurds in Iraq, where their territory is virtually a separate country.
The main Syrian Kurdish group — the Democratic Union Party (PYD), and its military wing, the People’s Protection Units (YPG) — have been excluded from the Geneva talks so as not to anger Turkey, despite Russia’s insistence they participate. Ankara views the group as a terrorist organization.
Nawaf Khalil of the PYD told The Associated Press by phone from Germany, where he is based, that his party is not lobbying for a Kurdish region but an all-inclusive area with representation for Turkmen, Arabs and Kurds in northern Syria.Nawaf Khalil of the PYD told The Associated Press by phone from Germany, where he is based, that his party is not lobbying for a Kurdish region but an all-inclusive area with representation for Turkmen, Arabs and Kurds in northern Syria.
Salih Muslim, the co-president of the PYD, speaking to the AP in Sulaimaniyah, Iraq, that the decision to declare a federal region was not yet official, but any such announcement would be a positive step that helps keep Syria together. Salih Muslim, the co-president of the PYD, told the AP in Sulaimaniyah, Iraq, that the decision to declare a federal region was not yet official, but any such announcement would be a positive step to help keep Syria together.
He suggested the only way forward was a decentralized Syria and that any formula for that, whether federalism or autonomy, would be acceptable to the Kurds. “The name is not important,” he added. A Turkish Foreign Ministry official said his country rejects any moves that would compromise Syria’s national unity, adding that “unilateral moves carry no validity.”
Kurds are the largest ethnic minority in Syria, making up more than 10 percent of the prewar population of 23 million. They control an area along the Turkish border stretching from Syria’s far east, near the Iraqi border, to Afrin in the west, interrupted only by a stretch of territory that the Islamic State group controls. It’s up to the Syrian people to “decide on the executive and administrative structure of Syria in line with the new constitution which will be formulated through the political transition process,” said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of government practice.
Syria’s Kurds have declared their own civil administration in three distinct enclaves, or cantons, under their control: Jazira, Kobani and Afrin. Turkey views the PYD as an extension of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, which has renewed a decades-old insurgency since peace talks collapsed last year. The U.S. also considers the PKK a terrorist group, but both Washington and Moscow support the YPG, which has been among the most effective forces against the Islamic State group.
Around 200 Kurdish representatives from those three cantons, known collectively as Western Kurdistan, or Rojava, were meeting in Rmeilan Wednesday to discuss the move. Both the Syrian government and the opposition, at least in theory, reject any form of partition of Syria.
Federalism could be a first step toward creating an autonomous region similar to the one Kurds run across the border in Iraq, where their territory is virtually a separate country. It could also usher in similar demands elsewhere in Syria and in effect lead to partition. Syria’s U.N. ambassador, Bashar Ja’afari, who also heads the government team in Geneva, said the talks are meant to discuss preserving Syria’s territorial integrity.
A Turkish Foreign Ministry official said his country rejects any moves that would compromise Syria’s national unity and considers the territorial integrity of Syria as “essential.”
It’s up to the Syrian people to “decide on the executive and administrative structure of Syria in line with the new constitution which will be formulated through the political transition process,” said the official, who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity in line with government practice.
“Unilateral moves carry no validity,” the official said.
Turkey views the PYD as an extension of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, which has renewed a decades-old insurgency since peace talks collapsed last year. The United States also considers the PKK a terrorist group, but both the U.S. and Russia support the YPG, which has been among the most effective forces battling the Islamic State group.
Much of Syria’s border with Turkey is now controlled by the YPG-dominated Syrian Democratic Forces — an alliance that includes Kurds, Arabs and Christians — which has distinguished itself from the Syrian government and the mainstream opposition in the civil war.
Though the PYD is the predominant authority in northern Syria, it shares authority in some pockets with the Damascus government. These arrangements, around the cities of Hassakeh and Qamishli, are generally calm but sometimes flare up into confrontations.
Two days ago, Assad loyalists belonging to the National Defense Force militia clashed with Kurdish police forces in Qamishli. On Wednesday, the police arrested 60 militia members, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, an opposition group that monitors the conflict, said.
Both the Syrian government and the opposition, at least in theory, reject any form of partition. Riad Naasan Agha, a member of the Saudi-backed opposition, said such issues should be decided through Syrian institutions, including elections.
“What someone declares on their own, far away from the Syrian people, is unacceptable,” Agha said.
Syria’s U.N. Ambassador Bashar Ja’afari, who also heads the government team at the U.N.-brokered talks in Geneva, said the negotiations are meant to discuss preserving Syria’s territorial integrity.
“Betting on creating any kind of divisions among the Syrians will be a total failure,” Ja’afari said.“Betting on creating any kind of divisions among the Syrians will be a total failure,” Ja’afari said.
Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on Monday said federalization is one possible option in Syria if it is the will of the Syrian people. He said Russia will support whatever solution the government and the opposition devise to end the war, including “any form (of government) whatever it may be called: federalization, decentralization, unitary state.” Added Riad Naasan Agha, a member of the Saudi-backed Syrian opposition: “What someone declares on their own, far away from the Syrian people, is unacceptable.”
The PYD’s Khalil distinguished between autonomous rule over Kurdish areas — which has been in effect in Syria since 2013 — and the federalism project, which he said was ethnically inclusive.The PYD’s Khalil distinguished between autonomous rule over Kurdish areas — which has been in effect in Syria since 2013 — and the federalism project, which he said was ethnically inclusive.
“The federalism project is a model for all Syria,” he said in a phone interview from Germany, where he is based. “The federalism project is a model for all Syria,” he said.
The Kurdish move comes at a critical juncture in the conflict. The Kurdish plan comes at a critical juncture in the conflict. A 2-week-old Russian and U.S.-engineered partial cease-fire is holding, the peace talks have resumed, and Moscow on Tuesday began withdrawing most of its troops from Syria after a 5½-month campaign of airstrikes supporting Assad, its longtime ally.
A two-week-old Russian and U.S.-engineered partial cease-fire is holding and peace talks resumed this week. Moreover, Russia on Tuesday began withdrawing the bulk of its troops from Syria, signaling an end to Moscow’s five-and-a-half month air campaign. That move raised hopes for more meaningful discussions in Switzerland, where U.N. envoy Staffan de Mistura is shuttling between delegations from the Syrian government and the moderate, Western-backed opposition. That has raised hopes for more meaningful discussions in Geneva, where U.N. envoy Staffan de Mistura is shuttling between delegations from the Syrian government and the moderate, Western-backed opposition.
NATO’s Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg told The Associated Press that Russia’s partial withdrawal should contribute to efforts to find a peaceful solution to the Syrian conflict.
Stoltenberg, who spoke during a visit to Afghanistan, said the consequences of the withdrawal are yet to be seen but that he “would welcome any action that reduces the military tensions in Syria.”
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Associated Press writers Zeina Karam in Beirut, Dominique Soguel in Istanbul, Vladimir Isachenkov in Moscow, Jamey Keaten in Geneva and Lynne O’Donnell in Kabul contributed to this report. Associated Press writers Dominique Soguel in Istanbul, Vladimir Isachenkov in Moscow, Matthew Lee in Washington, Jamey Keaten in Geneva and Lynne O’Donnell in Kabul contributed to this report.
Copyright 2016 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.Copyright 2016 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.