While Iraqi Kurdistan’s secession bid is threatening to spark a region-wide war against them, the Syrian Kurdish territory of Rojava seems to be having some success with their own attempts to get at least considerable autonomy within post-war Syria.
Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Moallem said in comments on state media that the calls for autonomy for Rojava could be a matter for negotiation, but only after the defeat of the ISIS forces still operating in eastern Syria.
Rojava, also called Western Kurdistan, largely overlaps with Hasakeh Province, but has grown with the Kurdish YPG’s capturing of neighboring territory from ISIS. Any negotiation on autonomy would likely include the Kurds releasing non-Kurdish territory from their control.
While the US has been backing the YPG militarily, they’ve expressed vocal opposition to granting the region autonomy, saying they want post-war Syria to have a strongly centralized system of government with no federalization. Russia has expressed tepid support for a federal system, but only as a result of negotiations. Given how large Syrian Kurdistan has become, it seems that such negotiation is all but inevitable.
Kurdish Autonomy in Syria is exactly what Assad will set up, it makes Syria stronger and fit well with Assad’s methods of governing.
Some time ago I commented that it would be a smart move by Assad to grant autonomy to Syrian Kurds, sort of federal form within Syria. That might get the Americans of his back who are backing the Kurds.
As far as an independent Kurdistan inside Iraq (possibly Turkey itself) I would be all for it, but it will be a difficult goal to realize and would mean more war. Besides such a state would be landlocked and wilI make it dependent of bordering nations to reach the outside world. I have a great admiration for the brave Kurdish women fighting ISIS and for their own national independence.
There is more to the story.
See: http://www.globaltimes.cn/content/1068523.shtml
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“Syria’s Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD) has said the Syrian Kurds oppose separation from Syria, local media reported Wednesday.
“The Syrian Kurds have been clear from the beginning that they are strategically and ideologically against separation,” PYD chief Salih Muslim was quoted as saying.
He also appreciated the recent remarks of Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Moallem, who said the central government is ready to negotiate with the Kurds about a federal Kurdish system in northern Syria.
In an interview with the Russian RT TV on Monday, al-Moallem said the Kurdish Syrians “want to have a form of set rules within the Syrian border, and this is negotiable.”
Muslim hailed al-Moallem’s remarks as “positive,” saying his party has a project for a democratic federal system that he was ready to discuss with the government.
He said the project is not only a Kurdish one, but for all of Syria.
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Often we need to look at media beyond the control of the West to find the full story in a convenient way.
But good piece otherwise.
Yes but the goodwill on both the Syrian and Kurdish side may not matter if Turkey, Iran & Iraq decide on a military suppression of Iraqi Kurdistan and a couple of million refugees flood into Syria, becoming even more militant. The US could see these Kurds as the “new opposition” to Assad and string them along with promises of support for the Kurdish cause if they fight against Assad. All of these Kurds with US procured weapons and a US/Israeli air shield would be more formidable than all the fragmented Islamist groups which are about to be defeated.
The US has already started the process of eliminating the distinction between YPG and “Syrian Democratic Forces” effectively licensing the name SDF to the Kurds. Obviously this doesn’t fool anyone in Syria or Turkey, so what’s the point of the re-branding if not to use the Kurds to give the domestic audience the impression there is still a viable Syrian opposition force to be supported…
Although I appreciate your thoughts, they are speculation. I was calling attention to Salid Muslim’s comments, not mentioned in this piece and not reported in the Western MSM, so far as I know.
The time has passed when we can ignore the Russian and Chinese media and expect to understand what is going on.
“negotiable?” They made that deal 5 years ago. All there is to negotiate is continuing as they are.