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ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Germany is ready to help Syria’s new rulers establish a unified security force that includes Kurdish-led forces, Berlin’s envoy to Damascus said.
“The most important thing for these groups is to meet and together form a joint security body that includes the HTS and the SDF,” Stefan Schneck told Rudaw’s Dilbxwin Dara on Thursday, referring to Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham and the Syrian Democratic Forces.
“I believe Germany is eager to offer support in order for this situation to materialize, which is very important for the national security infrastructure,” he said.
A coalition of rebel groups spearheaded by Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) overthrew Bashar al-Assad’s regime on December 8. They have announced the dissolution of armed groups affiliated to it and formed a transitional government that is expected to expire in March.
The HTS has not clashed with the Kurdish-led SDF, but the new officials in Damascus, including de facto leader of the country, Ahmed al-Sharaa, better known as Abu Mohammed al-Jolani, have declared that weapons should only be in the hands of the state and they will not tolerate the existence of any independent armed group.
The SDF are based in the northeast of the country and are partnered with the global coalition against the Islamic State (ISIS).
SDF chief Mazloum Abdi has repeatedly said that they respect the new authority in Damascus and plan to send a delegation to the capital to meet Jolani. The Kurdish enclave in northeast Syria (Rojava) has also decided to raise the new flag of Syria that has been used by the HTS and other anti-Assad groups since the civil war began more than a decade ago.
Abdi told Asharq Al-Awsat in a recent interview that they are willing to merge the SDF into the Syrian new army if both sides agree on a “suitable formula through negotiations.”
PKK ‘should leave’ Rojava
The German envoy also said that the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) should leave Syria.
PKK fighters entered Rojava temporarily in 2014 to help local Kurdish armed groups in the war against ISIS. They have denied any organizational links with the SDF. However, Rojava authorities who are ideologically close to the PKK are under increasing pressure to distance themselves from them.
Schneck said he and Abdi spoke on the phone last week. Abdi “presented some important ideas,” including about the alleged presence of “non-Syrian fighters,” he said.
“PKK is a designated terrorist organization and should no longer intervene in Syrian affairs,” Schneck said, adding that the new Syrian security apparatus “should not include the PKK guerillas. They should leave the country instead.”
Murat Karayilan, a senior PKK commander, on December 16 denied that there are PKK fighters in Rojava. He said that they temporarily entered the country in 2014 and left after defeating ISIS.
Karayilan also said that the display of portraits of jailed PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan in Rojava does not mean that Syrian Kurds are PKK members, but rather are followers of Ocalan’s philosophy.
Rojava authorities have effectively banned PKK flags and symbols. The Democratic Autonomous Administration in North and East Syria (DAANES) “directed all institutions and political parties… to raise only the independence flag of Syria, or the flag of the revolution, the flags of the SDF and the symbols of the autonomous administration,” said Nasraddin Ibrahim, secretary general of the Democratic Party of Kurd in Syria (al-Parti). The directive has yet to be publicized but was issued on December 16.
Germany endorses intra-Kurdish talks
Berlin supports talks to unite Kurdish parties in Syria in preparation for discussions with Damascus, the German envoy said.
Rojava’s feuding ruling and opposition parties have sporadically held talks for over the past decade to try and reach an agreement on power sharing and creating a unified Kurdish stance.
The talks have been stalled for years, but American and French delegations have made steps to resume them, beginning with a recent meeting between Abdi and the opposition parties.
“We support these [talks] a lot. Intra-Kurdish talks are very important because some parties have been excluded in the societal makeup of northeast Syria,” Schneck said.
He said that the issue not only concerns the ruling Democratic Union Party (PYD) and the opposition coalition Kurdish National Council (ENKS/KNC), “but is also related to other free groups whose voices should be heard in these talks.”
Germany is not involved in the talks.
“France and the US play a special role because they are militarily present there. This is not the case with Germany. Therefore, our participation differs. Germany pays special attention to this process. We also remind all partners that the intra-Kurdish talks are the basis for a successful participation in a broader political process in Syria,” he said.
French and American soldiers are on the ground in northeast Syria as part of the war against ISIS.
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