Ankara Must Begin to Change Stance on Syria by Allowing Kurds in Geneva Talks

© AFP 2023 / FABRICE COFFRINIFlags of Kurdistan. (File)
Flags of Kurdistan. (File) - Sputnik International
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The changes in the Turkish approach to the Kurdish issue should start from lifting Ankara's block on inviting Syrian Kurdistan's representative to Geneva peace talks, Vice-Chairman of the Turkish pro-Kurdish People’s Democratic Party (HDP) Saruhan Oluc told Sputnik on Wednesday.

Damascus residents on the streets of the city on the first day of truce - Sputnik International
Putin: Russia, Turkey Determined to Find Compromise on Syrian Peace Process
MOSCOW (Sputnik) — His comments came on the heels of the Tuesday meeting in St. Petersburg between Turkish leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Russian President Vladimir Putin, with hopes running high that Russia may slightly change Turkey's stance on Syria.

"There is still no sign of any change in Turkey’s Syria politics. For the first step of this kind a change, the Rojava [Western Kurdistan, a de facto autonomous region in northern Syria] representatives and the Syrian Democratic Forces should be invited to the negotiation table and Turkey of course should lift its veto on this subject," Oluc said.

He added that without the representatives from the Syrian Kurdistan in the negotiations on Syria's future it was not possible to reconstruct a democratic Syrian regime.

"Because they struggle against ISIS [Daesh] barbarians and also represent all the peoples including Arab, Kurdish, Turkmen, Yazidi, etc. who live in Rojava, they should also be at the table," Oluc said.

A Kurdish man waves a large flag of the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) political wing, the Democratic Union Party (PYD), during a demonstration against the exclusion of Syrian-Kurds from the Geneva talks in the northeastern Syrian city of Qamishli on February 4, 2016 - Sputnik International
Turkey, Kurds Should Be United as Strategic Friends
On Tuesday, Russian envoy to the UN Vitaly Churkin said that following talks between the Russian and Turkish leaders Ankara would finally see the necessity to engage the Syrian Kurds in the process of Syrian reconciliation, adding that territorial integrity of Syria was also in Turkey's vested interest.

"A regime that understands and recognizes the Kurdish reality in the Middle East in 21st century can take peaceful and successful steps in its own country as well," Oluc said.

The latest round of intra-Syrian talks, aimed at finding a compromise on the Syrian post-war governance structure, was held in Geneva from April 13 to 27 and ended with no major results. UN Special Envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura said earlier he hoped talks between Damascus and the opposition would be resumed in August.

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