Kurds have insisted on attending under the umbrella of their self-established federal enclave and not individual groups, “as we represent the political will of the entities and social forces in the region,” read a statement issued on Tuesday by a group of Kurdish, Arab, and Assyrian parties, including the ruling PYD.
Damascus has rejected the self-proclaimed Democratic Federal System of Northern Syria, commonly known as Rojava.
This is one of two factors the Kurdish parties deem crucial to Sochi’s success. The other is preventing Turkey from influencing preparations for the conference, including who will be invited.
Turkey has long opposed inviting the PYD or its armed group the YPG and the umbrella SDF to any peace ventures and has prevented their inclusion in the Geneva and Astana peace processes. Ankara believes the Kurdish groups are extensions of Turkey’s banned PKK – a charge they deny.
Ankara claimed that the conference was postponed in November because of its opposition to the Kurdish groups attending.
Russia, however, has favoured inviting the Kurds and has coordinated militarily with the YPG and SDF in Deir ez-Zor.
The Kurdish-led forces, which have been backed by the US, now control about a quarter of Syrian territory.
The Sochi conference is expected to take place on January 29-30 with backing from Turkey and Iran, but some 40 Syrian opposition groups have rejected Russia’s ability to host such an event, accusing the country of committing war crimes and trying to bypass the United Nations-brokered Geneva peace process.
"Russia is an aggressor country that has committed war crimes against Syrians... It stood with the regime militarily and defended it politically and over seven years preventing U.N. condemnation of [Syrian President Bashar] Assad's regime," read a combined statement from the groups.
Mustefa Sejari, a top figure within one of the Mutasem Brigades, told AFP that “whoever wants to play an intermediary and guarantor role in Syria needs to be neutral, fair, and honest in its support of political transition.”
“Russia has not done these things – it is a partner in the killing of the Syrian people,” he stated.
The rebel groups believe that Moscow has not put enough pressure on the Assad regime in order to reach a political settlement.
"Russia has not contributed one step to easing the suffering of Syrians and has not pressured the regime that it claims it is a guarantor by move in any real path towards a solution," the group statement added.
Russia has been propping up Damascus for over two years, backing the regime militarily. However some Syrians and rights groups claim that indiscriminate bombing by Russian air strikes has caused hundreds of civilian casualties.
Some of the rebel groups involved in the statement have participated in earlier rounds of the Geneva peace process and some have not made up their mind as to whether or not they will join the Sochi conference.
Russia’s Deputy Foreign Minister Michael Bogdanov told Russian media RIA Novosti on Tuesday that the Sochi conference, named the Syrian National Dialogue Congress, should take place under the auspices of the United Nations and UN Security Council resolution 2254 that calls for a ceasefire and political settlement to the more than 6-year long civil war that has claimed the lives of some 400,000 people.
