Kurdsat News, PUK-affiliated media, reported late Tuesday that Talabani arrived in Rojava to hold “important military and political meetings” with Rojava officials and commanders.
The visit comes amid an escalation of tensions between the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) and Turkish army following a deadly blast in Istanbul. Ankara has blamed the People’s Protection Units (YPG), backbone of the SDF, but the group has denied any responsibility.
Turkey, which considers the YPG the Syrian offshoot of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) and regards both as terrorist organizations, often targets the PKK in the Kurdistan Region’s mountainous areas and the YPG in Rojava. Ankara launched a fresh aerial offensive against both forces in November and has threatened to carry out a ground campaign as well.
The new operation’s focus in the Kurdistan Region is the PUK-held Sulaimani province. Turkey has previously accused the PUK of supporting the PKK.
This is Talabani’s first publicly-announced visit to Rojava as the leader of his party.
Mazloum Abdi, general commander of the SDF, said in a tweet later in the night that he received Talabani and an anti-ISIS coalition commander, adding that they talked about "developing anti-terror joint efforts to preserve region's stability."
Pleased to meet with PUK leader @Bafeltalabani & @CJTFOIR commander Matthew McFarlane, to talk about developing anti-terror joint efforts to preserve region's stability.
— Mazloum Abdî مظلوم عبدي (@MazloumAbdi) December 20, 2022
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