Western States Block Kurdish Participation in Syria Talks Proposed by Russia
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Russia’s proposal to include Kurds in Geneva Syrian talks was vetoed by the UN Security Council’s Western members, UN envoy Vitaly Churkin said, adding this contradicts UN resolutions on Syrian reconciliation and ignores calls for inclusive talks.
Churkin warned late on Tuesday that if the Syrian Kurds do not participate in the peace process, international efforts to bring peace to Syria could be undermined.
“We are concerned that the Syrian Kurds, historically woven into the social fabric of the country, still have not been invited to the Geneva talks,” he said, pointing out that by not inviting the Kurds, the West is violating the spirit of inclusiveness for the Syrian talks in the UN Security Council resolutions on Syria.
The diplomat also slammed the actions of the non-permanent member Ukraine, whose opposition to the Russian draft “added its destructive share” to the final decision, Russia Today reported.
In March, de Mistura also advocated the participation of the Syrian Kurds in the Geneva talks in order to make them “as inclusive as possible,” warning that fragmentation of Syria into smaller breakaway states “would be unsustainable.”
“The Syrian Kurds are an important component of the country, so we need to find a formula in which they are able to express an opinion on the constitution and the governance of the country,” the UN envoy to Syria told Swiss Le Temps newspaper, while stressing that the unity of Syria must be preserved.
“I think no Syrian person, whoever he or she is, would accept that. They are very proud people of their own country,” he concluded.
Last month, some Kurds reportedly declared the federation of the region they control in northern Syria, calling it the “Federation of Northern Syria.”
“Syria’s Kurds have a long history of opposition and a long history of struggle for the legitimate rights of their people in this country,” Idris Nassan, an official in the foreign affairs directorate of Kobani, a city in the Aleppo province that has been controlled by the Kurdish militia since 2012, told RT in an interview.
Despite the Kurd’s desire for more independence from Damascus, Nassan asserted that separation is not what the majority of Kurds want and called on international actors to support a federalization.
The Syrian federal government denounced the move, however, calling it a direct threat to the integrity of the country that contradicts the Syrian constitution as well as international law.
“When one speaks of the federalization of our country, this directly threatens the integrity of our country, runs counter to the Constitution, contradicts the national concepts, even is at variance with the international resolutions and decisions, so all statements of the kind are illegitimate,” Syrian Ambassador to Russia, Riyad Haddad, said.
Syrian Kurds control an area stretching approximately 400 kilometers (250 miles) along the Syria-Turkey border and a section of the northwestern border in the Afrin area.
