ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — The Democratic Union Party (PYD) and other allied parties are ready to give some of their seats in the northeast Syria administration to the opposition Kurdish National Council (ENKS) until the next election, a senior PYD official said Saturday.
Aldar Khalil, a member of PYD’s leadership, told Hawar News Agency (ANHA) on Saturday that they and the ENKS have not agreed on a date for the upcoming election, but members of the PYD-led Kurdish National Unity Parties (PYNK) coalition are ready to offer their seats in the government to the opposition coalition until then.
“The PYNK parties have expressed their willingness to give them a number of places allocated for them for success [of the unity talks] … but there is no agreement in this regard yet,” said the senior official.
“A time must be set for the electoral process,” he added.
The PYNK is a newly-founded coalition of 24 parties which have close ties with the PYD and have representatives in the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (NES), known to Kurds as Rojava.
The ENKS holds no seats in the current administration, having boycotted the 2017 local elections.
Both the ENKS and the PYD have been at odds for several years, with the ENKS accusing the PYD of being unwilling to share power and detaining their members in Rojava.
The first ENKS-PYD talks took place in Duhok in 2014. Initiated by Masoud Barzani, then president of the Kurdistan Region and leader of the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP), the initial talks ended in a deal which was never implemented.
Sulaiman Oso, a leadership member of the ENKS, told Rudaw in mid-September that the US had suggested that each of the ENKS and PYNK have 40 percent share of power and each of them have the right to choose the remaining 10 percent from outside their ranks.
A few days later, Oso told Rudaw that the suggestion had been approved by both the ENKS and the PYNK.
Khalil, who is the head of the PYD delegation in the unity talks with ENKS, confirmed to ANHA that they have reached such a deal. He said that they will form a reference council of 40 people. "Sixteen people [will be] from PYNK, 16 people from ENKS and 8 others: 4 chosen by PYNK and 4 by ENKS."
The 40 percent share of the ENKS will not affect the share of other ethnic and religious groups as they will replace PYNK Kurdish officials.
ENKS members "will take their places in some institutions of the administration, in agreement with the administration of course, and these places will be among the seats allocated to the Kurds," said Khalil.
Khalil said the reference council will “become the supreme Kurdish authority, and it will represent the Kurds in all aspects of society. It will represent the opinion of the Kurds in the administration, especially the Kurds of Rojava.”
