ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - The Iraqi government has decided to “unconditionally” open its western border with the Syrian Kurdish town of Til Kocer, according to the Democratic Union Party (PYD), the dominant Kurdish group in Syria.
Jafar Akashi, the PYD spokesman in Erbil, told Firat News that Iraq decided to open the border in order to allow humanitarian aid for people across the border.
The Til Kocer border crossing -- the most strategic held by Syrian Kurds to date -- was seized by the PYD’s Peoples Protection Units (YPG) in October after weeks of fierce fighting with the radical Jabhat al-Nusrah and other jihadist groups.
Akashi said that, at a meeting of PYD and Iraqi leaders, Baghdad had acknowledged the need to open the border to people in desperate need of food and medicine.
Iraq’s Shiite leaders have spoken in support of Syrian Kurds and their fight against radical Sunni groups and condemned their attack on the Kurdish population since the beginning of this year.
This move by Iraq comes just days after Syrian and Turkish authorities announced they would reopen the Nusaybin border that connects both countries near the Kurdish town of Qamishli in Syria.
The opening of Iraqi and Turkish borders could well be an indication of the stability maintained by the PYD in Syria’s Kurdish areas, particularly after the group announced autonomy and an interim government last month.
Moreover, during a visit to France on Sunday, PYD leader Salih Muslim said that the areas under rule have been named the “Kurdistan Region of Syria,” and are comprised of three autonomous provinces.
“The goal is not to secede, but the Kurds want a federal system in Syria,” he told AFP.
