Abdullah Ocalan calls on Ankara to facilitate implementation of a stalled integration deal between Syrian Kurds and Damascus to secure regional stability.
ANKARA: Jailed Kurdish leader Abdullah Ocalan has called on Turkey’s government to broker a peace deal between Kurdish-led forces in Syria and the Damascus government.
In a message released by Turkey’s pro-Kurdish DEM party, Ocalan said it was “crucial” for Ankara to play a constructive role. “This is crucial for both regional peace and to strengthen its own internal peace,” he added.
The founder of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) urged Turkey to help implement a deal announced in March between the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) and the government. Clashes between Syrian forces and the SDF have since cast doubt over the agreement to integrate the group’s fighters into the army.
Ocalan stated the March agreement’s fundamental demand is for a democratic political model. “This approach also includes the principle of democratic integration, negotiable with the central authorities,” he said.
The SDF, whose backbone is the YPG Kurdish militia, is calling for a decentralised government, which Syrian leader Ahmed al-Sharaa rejects. Deadly clashes and differences have held up the deal’s implementation.
Turkey views the YPG as an extension of the PKK and sees Kurdish fighters across the border as a threat. Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan recently urged the SDF not to be an “obstacle” to stability.
Syrian Kurdish leader Mazloum Abdi said last week that “all efforts” were being made to prevent the collapse of talks. In Turkey, the PKK agreed this year at Ocalan’s urging to end its four-decade armed struggle.
