ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - An umbrella group of Kurdish opposition parties on Friday announced its withdrawal from a coalition of Syrian revolutionary forces.
"The revolution is now over, the Baath regime has been overthrown. A new phase has begun and we have decided to withdraw from the Syrian Coalition," said Faysal Yousef, spokesperson for the Kurdish National Council (ENKS/KNC).
The National Coalition of Syrian Revolutionary and Opposition Forces, commonly known as the Syrian National Coalition, was founded in Qatar a year after civil war broke out in Syria between opposition forces and the Baathist regime of Bashar al-Assad. Its headquarters are in Istanbul.
ENKS is an umbrella group of Kurdish opposition parties in northeast Syria (Rojava).
Assad was overthrown in December by rebels led by the militia group Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), which spearheaded an offensive against the Syrian army, capturing major cities, including the capital Damascus as Assad fled to Russia, marking the end of over five decades of Baathist rule.
ENKS said in a statement that it will "work with all national forces regarding Syria's future and securing the rights of our Kurdish people and all components of the Syrian people in the constitution."
Yousef told Rudaw that their withdrawal from the coalition does not mean they are opposed to the new authorities in Damascus.
"The regime is gone. Now we need to establish together a new Syria and a new state so that all components can enjoy their rights and be free," he said.
He also said that they want to participate in Syria's political process "with a unified Kurdish perspective" and denied that their withdrawal from the coalition was a condition set by the Democratic Union Party (PYD) or the request of a foreign country.
PYD is the main ruling party in northeast Syria.
ENKS and PYD have tried in the past to overcome their rivalry and establish a unified Kurdish stance in Syria, but their talks have been stalled for years. With the fall of Assad, there are new efforts to restart the talks.
"We are trying to form a delegation. The issue is not about them imposing conditions on us or us imposing conditions on them, but rather we want to emphasize achieving a common political perspective for all of Syria and Kurds," Yousef said.
Updated at 11:51 pm
