Zalal Jagar and Kharib Heso were named as the new co-chairs of TEV-DEM, a coalition dominated by the Democratic Union Party (PYD), the armed Peoples’ Protection Units (YPG) and its all-women’s YPJ wing, together with the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) and its Syrian Democratic Council (SDC) political arm.
Together they control of a little over a quarter of Syria.
“In the third congress of TEV-DEM, a draft for the coalition’s system was prepared to contain the future works and plans of the group towards its Kurdistani national stances in a bid to put the Kurdish house in order,” Terhad Telo, a senior member of the congress, told Rudaw at the congress, which took place in Rmelan, Hasakah province on Monday.
The Kurdistan National Council, ENKS or KNC, which is supported by the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), is not part of the administration in the Northern Syrian Federation, known to Kurds as Rojava. Despite efforts at reconciliation, it has long been at odds with TEV-DEM.
ENKS participates in the National Coalition for Syrian Revolutionary and Opposition Forces – the umbrella group representing the various Syrian factions opposed to the Assad government.
Telo said ENKS “must pull out” of the coalition, which spearheaded the Turkish-led takeover of Afrin earlier this year. It “works to hit the interests of Kurds,” he said.
ENKS had condemned the takeover of Afrin by Turkey and its Syrian proxies.
Areas under TEV-DEM control include Kurdish Rojava, the Euphrates dam, the former ISIS stronghold of Raqqa, oil and gas fields in Deir ez-Zor, and stretches of border territory with Turkey and Iraq.
Despite its dominance on the ground in northern Syria, TEV-DEM has been excluded from international peace talks, mainly at the insistence of Turkey. They have also been accused by Syrian opposition groups of allying with the regime.
Kurdish forces and the SDF have largely avoided confrontation with the regime over the course of the seven-year conflict.
Preoccupied by its Russian-backed offensives against ISIS and rebel holdouts elsewhere in the country, Damascus has largely left the Kurds alone, though it has in the past threatened to take control of Rojava by force.
Now, the regime wants to restore its control over the north of the country. The Kurds want to protect the broadly democratic system they have carved out for themselves and bolster their defenses against threats from Turkey.
They are keenly aware of their vulnerability since US President Donald Trump made clear he intends to withdraw American troops from Manbij once anti-ISIS operations are complete.
As a result, the Rojava authorities have recently opened talks with the Syrian government to outline a roadmap for the future of the region. Kurds are eager to secure some degree of autonomy in post-war Syria.
“TEV-DEM rejects associations which allege that our coalition had gotten close to the Syrian government,” Asya Abdulla, a PYD leader, told Rudaw. “Since the start of the Syrian crisis, TEV-DEM had avoided the Syrian government and opposition groups and thus taken a neutral stance.”
The congress gave the coalition an opportunity to make changes and hammer home its neutral line, she said.
Talks with the Syrian regime are only aimed at finding ways to run the region in the best possible way, with a particular focus on services and infrastructure, she added.
