Abdul Hakim Bashar, the Coalition Deputy Prime Minister, revealed that Russia is trying to form a united delegation of Kurdish to participate in the next round of the Geneva talks. The delegation will include representatives of the Kurdish National Council and the Democratic Union Party (PYD) according to Bashar’s Facebook post on Monday evening.
Bashar, a member of the Political Bureau of the Kurdistan Democratic Party - Syria, said in a statement on his Facebook page that Russia has indicated its willingness to mediate between the PYD and the Kurdish National Council ahead of the next round of talks in Geneva. The Russians want to form a unified Kurdish delegation outside of the framework of the Syrian opposition. He stressed that he personally received “a verbal message” to that effect.
Bashar added that, “In a meeting between a Russian mediator and a representative of our party (the Kurdistan Democratic Party) abroad, the mediator stressed Russia’s desire to sponsor a meeting between Abdul Hakim Bashar, Fouad Aliko and others from the Kurdish National Council and a delegation from PYD including Saleh Muslim and other PYD members.”
The offer, which came through an intermediary, includes the Kurdish delegation presenting their demands to the Syrian regime directly or through the UN mediator.
The Kurdish leader pointed out that Russia has attempted more than once to make offers to the Kurds to form a unified delegation in Geneva, as it sees a lack of Kurdish representation at the talks as a problem. The Kurdish issue was absent in the previous Geneva talks although Kurds have participated in the talks as members of the High Negotiation Committee
