BEIRUT/ARBIL, Iraq |
(Reuters) - A Syrian Kurdish group said on Friday it aims to set up an
independent council to run Kurdish regions until Syria's civil war has
ended, a move likely to alarm Syrian rebels and neighboring Turkey, both wary of a possible Kurdish state.
Kurdish militias have seized control of districts in northern Syria
in the past year since President Bashar al-Assad's forces focused
elsewhere, and are now seeking to consolidate those gains despite deep
divisions in their ranks.
Syria's
two-year conflict has pitted the Kurds against Assad's forces at times,
and against the rebels seeking to oust him at others.
Divided between Iran, Turkey, Iraq and Syria,
the Kurdish people are often described as the largest ethnic group
without a state of their own. Kurdish militants and the government in
Turkey have begun peace talks to end a conflict in the country's
southeast that has claimed 40,000 lives.
The Democratic Union Party (PYD), which is proposing a local authority in northeastern Syria,
is the strongest local Kurdish group due to its well armed and
effective militias. It is believed to be linked to the Kurdistan
Workers' Party (PKK), a group seeking autonomy in Turkey.
Saleh Muslim, the head of the PYD, said the proposals were under discussion by Kurdish groups.
"This
is not a call for a separation it is just that for a year now we have
been on our own in our own territories and people have needs, they want
some kind of administration to run their issues, they cannot be left
like that."
He said once an
agreement is reached an election will be held within three to four
months to chose administration officials. He expected a final decision
in a week or two.
"This administration will be like a temporary government," PYD spokesman Nawaf Khalil told Reuters from his home in exile in Germany. "We need to protect our borders and our people, we need to do something to improve the economic situation.
"We
also militarily have to face both Assad's regime and the rebels and the
Turks. And we hope to try to improve our relationships with all of
these neighbors."
KURDISH ENTITY
Rebels accuse the PYD of working with Assad and have sporadically fought the Kurds.
The
rebels oppose a separate Kurdish entity, as does their ally and
neighbor Turkey, which believes the emergence of an autonomous Kurdish
region in Syria could embolden home-grown PKK militants. Mainly Kurdish
southeast Turkey is strategically located on the country's borders with
Syria, Iraq and Iran.
The
Kurdish militias, who have allowed both Assad's and rebel forces to
move through their territories, insist they are anti-Assad but do not
want their region to suffer the sort of military devastation that has
leveled many opposition areas across Syria.
There
have been talks since last month between the PYD and its main rival,
the Syrian Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP-S), under the auspices of
Iraqi Kurdish President Masoud Barzani in Arbil, the capital of Iraq's
Kurdish region. But the two sides have yet to reach an agreement.
The
PYD's opponents have played down the possibility of reaching an
agreement but other political leaders have pushed for a deal, citing
their concerns over intensifying clashes between the Kurds and the
rebels in northeastern Syria.
"The
recent fighting proved that the burden is on our shoulders," said Aldar
Khalil of the Higher Kurdish Council, a group formed by Barzani to unite
Syrian Kurdish parties,
"We are
currently discussing a transitional administration. After that, we want
to hold elections within three months. We must all take part," he said.
PYD
militias have been engaged in fierce battles this week with al
Qaeda-linked Islamist rebels in northeastern Syria and seized the town
of Ras al-Ain, which borders Turkey.
The
PYD militias are also fighting the rebels for control of local oil
fields, highlighting a struggle not only to establish dominance in the
region but to assert control of the area's natural resources.
MILITIAS A STICKING POINT
A PYD source said that political leaders are already circulating a list of names to run the proposed administration.
Hamid
Darbandi, a Kurdish Iraqi official, said that the PYD's proposal had
still not been agreed by other parties. Another senior source, who asked
not to be named, said a deal for governance in the area was necessary.
"The
Syrian government is no longer capable of providing services and
security," the source said. "It may be necessary for these Kurdish
groups to develop arrangements and institutions to deliver basic
services and security, and also prevent the extremist (rebel) groups
from terrorizing the population."
PYD
spokesman Khalil said his group also hoped to develop a draft for a
transitional constitution in the region and put it to a referendum. But
he denied this would lead to separation.
"It
will be a framework for local administration. It is not uncommon for
different regions in a country to have varying sets of laws and
governance," he said.
The main
sticking point between the PYD and its rivals, according to sources at
the talks in Arbil, is the issue of who would run armed forces in the
region.
The PYD says its militias
should control armed protection, warning of a factional conflict within
Syria's civil war if other parties are allowed to maintain their own
militias. It has argued that other groups' fighters should be absorbed
within its ranks, but other units have rejected this.
(Additional reporting by Mariam Karouny; Editing by Giles Elgood)
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