MOSCOW, Russia— Prominent members of the Syrian opposition groups called Saturday on Kurdish participation in the anticipated peace talks in Kazakh capital Astana next week. Opposition leaders Mustafa Shekha and Mahnoud Afandi who are currently visiting Russia told Rudaw that the Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD) has been a force on the ground in Syria’s Kurdish regions and should be added to the list of peace negotiators. Russia and Turkey have jointly announced that a new round of peace efforts will take place on January 23 in Astana for the first time after the failed Geneva negotiations last year. Ankara has vehemently refused to invite the PYD and its armed wing of People’s Protection Units (YPG) to the meeting, calling the group an extension of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK). “It’s very unfortunate that Ankara has excluded the PYD from both peace talks and the ongoing ceasefire. It will bring about challenges. The PYD and all armed groups should be included in the talks,” Afandi told Rudaw after holding a press conference in Moscow Saturday. The expected Astana talks were initiated earlier in December by the three main regional powers Turkey, Iran and Russia which have different and often conflicting stakes in the Syrian war. Moscow has since extended an invitation to the incoming US administration to take part in the talks. Both the US and Russia have in the past shown strong support for the inclusion of the Kurdish factions’ participation in any talks regarding the future of Syria where Kurds constitute around 10 percent of the population and are viewed as a moderate force running the mainly Kurdish inhabited areas north of the country. Once regarded as a pragmatic leader by Ankara, the PYD leader Salih Muslim gradually became persona non grata in Turkey where he had previously lived and completed education in Istanbul Technical University. The Turkish government has said the PYD under Muslim has taken irreversible steps to turn the party into a political and military wing of the PKK with which Ankara has been at decades-long on and off war. It still remains to be announced which groups will attend the Astana meeting next week and what the road map they are expected to agree on as Syria’s nightmarish conflict enters its sixth years in April. “If we’re invited, we will take part and support the peace talks to stop the bloodshed. I really hope all Syrian people are represented in the meeting, since we have all common concerns and wishes,” opposition leader Shekha told Rudaw after the joint press conference in Moscow.
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