Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov met with Syrian pro-Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD) leader Salih Muslim in Paris on Friday and discussed possible military measures against the terrorist Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL).
Bogdanov and Muslim discussed the latest developments in Syria, according to a Russian Foreign Ministry statement. The statement said that the two spoke about the threat of ISIL and other terrorist organizations and agreed on maintaining Syria's territorial integrity and secular structure, which gives equal rights to different ethnic and religious groups.
Speaking to the Ria Novosti news agency on a previous occasion, Muslim said that the PYD supports Russia's military operation against terrorism in Syria, adding that the operations will help in the search for a political solution to the Syrian conflict. Russian President Vladimir Putin has said that only Syrian military and local Kurdish forces are fighting effectively against ISIL.
Russia's military intervention in Syria is poised to alter the power balance in the war-torn country, with the group benefitting most from the change being the PYD. The US also supports the PYD in the fight against ISIL. Turkey, however, is opposed to support for the PYD due to the group's affiliation with the terrorist Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), especially after the recent increase in PKK violence in the Southeast of Turkey since the June 7 general election. Turkey considers the PYD to be a terrorist organization and while the US classifies the PKK as a terrorist group, under US law the PYD is not outlawed.
In a related development, Ilham Ehmed, a PYD leader, told Al-Monitor on Oct. 8 that the Russian intervention in Syria is “a good step in the fight against terrorism but is also empowering the regime [of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad], which is a bad point.”
Russia's intervention in Syria appears to have given the PYD a new card to play with the administration of US President Barack Obama, Al-Monitor reported. Ehmed also said that there are no members of the Free Syrian Army (FSA) in and around Aleppo and Idlib, which have been targeted by Russia. The Pentagon and White House say that Russia is targeting fighters there who have received US funding and training.
Ehmed said that Syrian Kurds are seeking autonomy and not independence, along the lines of the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) in northern Iraq. She also complained about Turkey's role in Syria, describing it as “very bad,” saying that Turkey opened the border for terrorism, according to Al-Monitor.
Earlier in October, Muslim told Al-Monitor that the PYD will fight alongside whoever fights against ISIL. He also said that the Russian intervention would stop Turkey from intervening in Syria. Turkey has been pushing for the removal of Assad since the beginning of the civil war in the country.
