Syrian Kurds say Ocalan’s message 'has nothing to do with us'
Thousands of Kurds in northeast Syria headed to public squares on Thursday to listen to a long awaited message from Abdullah Ocalan, the imprisoned leader of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) in Turkey.
In a historic statement, Ocalan called on the group he founded to lay down its arms and disband.
"All groups must lay down their arms and the PKK must dissolve itself," he said. Ocalan's call for "all groups" indicates that he likely means all PKK offshoots in Syria and Iran.
Since 2012, Syrian Kurds have been able to carve out a semi-autonomous region in northeast Syria, which they refer to as Rojava, meaning Western Kurdistan.
Turkey has repeatedly targeted the region, saying the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), the official military wing of Rojava, is an offshoot of the PKK, an armed group that has been fighting the Turkish state since 1984. The SDF denies links to the PKK.
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The Syrian Kurds hope that a renewed peace process in Turkey, which collapsed in July 2015, would bring greater stability and put an end to Turkish cross-border military operations and drone attacks. Syrian Kurdish officials travelled to Turkey for the last peace process, but have since been branded terrorists.
Although Ocalan did not mention Syria, the question for some is now whether the SDF will also disarm itself.
'It has nothing to do with us'
Salih Muslim, an official from the Syrian Kurdish political party the Democratic Union Party (PYD), told Al Arabiya that "there will be no need for weapons if attacks against the Kurds come to an end."
Samantha Teal, a researcher from the Syria-based Rojava Information Centre (RIC) told Middle East Eye that, "SDF officials interviewed by RIC say paths such as simply laying down their weapons are impossible due to the current threats facing northeast Syria - primarily attacks from Turkey and the Turkish-backed SNA."
On Thursday, SDF commander-in-chief Mazloum Abdi told reporters at a press conference in Washington DC that "Ocalan’s message concerns the PKK and has nothing to do with us in Syria."
He also added that if there was peace in Turkey, "there will be no justification for Turkey’s attacks on us in Syria".
Officials of the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Equality and Democracy (DEM) party in Turkey have also stated that Ocalan's call for disarmament was not for the SDF, Teal said.
Sinam Mohamad, the representative of the SDF’s political wing, the Syrian Democratic Council in the United States, told MEE that "Ocalan’s statement is a historic one, coming at a time when the Middle East is undergoing significant changes. At the end of any war or conflict, the best path forward is to pursue a peace agreement."
Mohamad said the statement has brought the Kurdish issue to the international stage and called for a lasting solution.
"This statement will have a positive influence on Rojava and Syria. I hope it will bring peace and end the conflict against our people in northeast Syria... Let us work together in Syria to rebuild our country," she said.
'Time of militancy is long gone'
In Iraq, meanwhile, Jadaan Ali, the representative of Syria's Kurdish National Council (KNC) party in Erbil, the capital of the Iraqi Kurdistan region, also welcomed Ocalan's call.
The KNC is aligned with the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), and has traditionally been a rival to the PYD and SDF.
'Paths such as simply laying down their weapons are impossible due to the current threats facing northeast Syria'
- Samantha Teal, Rojava Information Centre
"It has been a positive development, and we hope that the call for laying arms and disbanding the PKK brings peace and blessings to the Kurdish people. In our view, abandoning arms and entering civil and political processes is a positive development," he told MEE.
"The time of militancy is long gone. We also hope that this brings the Kurds in all Kurdish geography together through dialogue, democratic processes, elections, and local administrations."
The KRG has also expressed support for a peace process in Turkey and has encouraged unity talks between the PYD and its Syrian Kurdish rival, the KNC.
In mid January, the former president of Iraqi Kurdistan, Masoud Barzani, advised SDF leader Abdi to distance himself from the PKK during a meeting in Erbil.
"We've again taken a very proactive role, bringing the Kurds of Syria together with all the various political parties, not just with SDF, to have a unified force in Damascus to ensure that they are represented, that they are respected, and that they're part of a new government," said Treefa Aziz, the KRG representative to the US, speaking at a Kurdish conference at the University of Central Florida on Thursday.
Positive sign for Syrian Kurds
Analysts believe that a new peace process in Turkey will make it easier for the US to support the SDF.
Former US ambassador Peter Galbraith, who also spoke in Florida, said that Ocalan’s message should be a positive sign for Syrian Kurds.
"If the PKK disarms, and the Turkish argument that Rojava is an ally of the PKK, then Turkey has nothing to fear from Rojava," Galbraith said.
David Romano, a Middle East politics professor at Missouri State University in the US, added that "it could be positive (for the Syrian Kurds) if the PKK disarms and they (SDF) do not, because they are not part of the PKK.
"Then that argument would be strengthened. I don't think the Syrian Kurds are in a position to disarm themselves, they need their weapons to protect their autonomy and their rights," Romano told MEE.
The White House National Security Council spokesman Brian Hughes told Voice of America that the White House hopes "that it will help assuage our Turkish allies about US counter-ISIS partners in northeast Syria".
Continued attacks
Local Kurdish media reports that attacks by Turkish-backed groups have so far not stopped, with shelling targeting the countryside surrounding the Kurdish-majority city of Kobani.
Syria's Luqman Ahmi, co-chair of the Democratic Green Party and former spokesperson of the Kurdish-led self-administration, told MEE that "Turkish-backed groups continue to attack our regions to this day."
"While war has subsided in large parts of Syria, we hope these attacks will cease and that the country transitions toward a process of national reconciliation," said Ahmi.
'In our view, abandoning arms and entering civil and political processes is a positive development'
- Jadaan Ali, KNC
"Together, we can build a diverse, democratic, and decentralised Syria - one capable of addressing cultural, political, and economic issues."
Hoshang Hasan, a journalist based in Syria, pointed out that a successful peace process would also make it easier for the SDF to reach an agreement with the new administration in Damascus, which enjoys good ties with Turkey.
"If Turkey doesn't put pressure on Damascus, I think the agreement will be easier," he told MEE.
So far, negotiations between the SDF and Damascus to find a solution for the Syrian Kurdish autonomy have not yielded results.
Syria's new government insists on integrating the SDF into the Syrian army and a central state, while the Syrian Kurds seek autonomy and decentralisation.
"We believe that reinstating a centralised administration in Syria will only yield the same results. This has been tried before and the consequences were not just failures but a humanitarian catastrophe that cost millions of lives," Ahmi said.
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