Defiant PYD rejects new Syria opposition

LONDON / ANKARA

Syrian Kurds hold their rifles as they flash the victory sign in the Kurdish town of Jinderes, near the city of Aleppo in this July photo. AFP photo

The Democratic Union Party (PYD), a group affiliated with the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), has rejected the new opposition coalition, highlighting the deep divisions still remaining between the many Syrian armed groups.

Saleh Muslim, head of the PYD, said he had not been invited to talks in Doha this month in which the Syrian National Coalition was formed, and he labeled the group a proxy of Turkey and Qatar. The coalition, led by Sunni Muslim cleric Moaz al-Khatib, was meant to unify Syria’s myriad opposition groups in a bid to secure Western backing in their efforts to topple al-Assad. “It (the opposition coalition) has not emerged from obedience to Turkey and Qatar,” he said, adding that the Kurds included in the group were not representative of Syria’s Kurds and were handpicked by Turkey to follow its agenda. The bloc was also snubbed by Islamist groups including the two most important, the Al Nusra Front and Liwa Al Tawhid.

Meanwhile, the Turkish journalist, who recently returned home after being held in Syria, has said that he can’t feel happy about his release because he still hasn’t received any information about his colleague Bashar Kadumi. Ünal told reporters that he could not continue his life.

“I reunited with my family but there is no joy of life inside me and it will only begin when Bashar comes to Turkey,” he said at the protest in front of the Syrian consulate in Şişli, Istanbul on Nov. 20.