Published by Kurdish Question on 27 January 2016
After much speculation and confusion it has been confirmed that Rojava’s Democratic Union Party (PYD) has not been invited to the Geneva III Syria Talks.
Commenting on the situation PYD co-chair Saleh Moslem said that the talks would result in failure once again because the Kurds had not been invited.
Moslem added, “Some do not want a solution in Syria. They want to exclude the Kurds from this meeting. Plans are being hatched behind closed doors. Some forces (Turkey) have based all their efforts on preventing Kurds… These forces do not want peace in Syria, they want the war to continue. Now they are using the Kurds’ attendance as a reason to sabotage the talks. Geneva I and II ended without results due to this attitude. Everyone knows that a meeting without the Kurds is inconclusive.”
Speaking to Reuters, Democratic Syria Assembly co-chair Heysem Menna, who has been invited in a personal capacity said, “Either I will go with my friends (the Kurds) or I will not go. There has been no agreement.”
Menna also said that the proposal being made to them was to be a part of the “Russian delegation” but that they had the right to form their own delegation.
An invitation was also expected to be sent to Democratic Syria Assembly co-chair Ilham Ehmed but this did not happen either.
Ehmed commented on this saying, “We received some offers to join the meeting on Russian and US lists. But we didn’t accept this. We will not attend on others’ lists or on their side. We have been elected by the people of Syria and will only join talks to represent them with our own list.”
Ehmed also called on the world to, “End this approach, which will not get results,” and said, “We will carry on with our work and continue our project to create a democratic Syria. We are making preparations to gather a popular congress for a solution. The true negotiations for peace in Syria are going to take place in our own lands.”
Turkey threatened to boycott talks if the PYD attended.
