ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – The international community should help Kurds attend constitution draft talks in Geneva if it wants a solution for the long-running Syrian crisis, the top commander of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) said on Saturday. “If the international forces seek a solution in Syria, they should support Kurds and their representatives to attend these meetings,” SDF general commander Mazloum Abdi said in an interview published Saturday by Medya News, an outlet affiliated with the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK). The Geneva talks are attended by representatives of the United Nations-appointed civil society, the Syrian government, and the Syrian opposition. Members of these three groups make up the Syrian Constitutional Committee. There are two bodies within the committees – one of 150 members, and another, smaller body of 50 of the large groups' members. Though there are a few ethnic Kurds on both committees, none represent the Kurdish-led Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria, which governs an area otherwise known by Kurds as Rojava. Committee talks began in October 2019, but have been delayed multiple times – first by disagreements between committee contingents, then by the coronavirus pandemic. The latest round of talks were held a week ago, after which UN Special Envoy for Syria Geir Pedersen told reporters that there were "many areas of disagreement", but also "quite a few areas of commonalities". "My hope is with continued calm on the ground...we will also see some progress,” Pedersen added. In the interview, Abdi accused Turkey of "insistence" in blocking Rojava representatives from attending the talks. Turkey considers the SDF and its backbone, the People's Protection Units (YPG), as the Syrian extensions of the PKK – a Kurdish armed group fighting for greater rights of Kurds in Turkey. “The Turkish state is not in favor of a political solution in Syria, because if a solution is realized it will have to leave. The Turkish state has insisted on a veto to prevent the representatives of Kurds and northeast Syria from attending meetings in Geneva,” said Abdi. The Syrian Democratic Council (SDC), the political wing of the SDF, met with Russian authorities in Moscow late last month. Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov told the SDC delegation that Russia is committed to an inclusive intra-Syrian dialogue, according to a statement from Lavrov's office. The meetings angered Ankara, which said it would send a delegation to Moscow to discuss the subject. Abdi downplayed the SDC's talks in Moscow in the Medya News interview, saying that the meetings with the Russian administation "are not an alternative" to the Geneva talks.
