Assad needs to unite with Kurds against Turkey

Syrian Kurds are in heavy fighting with the rebels of the Free Syrian Army (FSA) and the jihadists. The Kurds have long spoken about the need to overthrow President Bashar al-Assad and even fought against government forces. The situation has changed now, much owing to the skillful diplomacy of the Syrian government. For the Kurds, Assad is a lot better than opposition.

At the end of last week, in the course of nearly two days of fighting near the towns of Atma, Jindaris and Hassakeh, the Kurds killed nearly 30 Islamists, including several leaders of jihadists, including Abu Omar al-Chechena (also known as Abu Omar al-Shishani), news agencies said. The Turkish media confirm the information, making references to the "moderate Kurds" from the "National Council of Syrian Kurds" (KNC), the Kurds from the Party of Democratic Union (PYD) as one side of the conflict and "moderate" FSA and Al-Qaeda groups - the already mentioned An- Nusra" and the "Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant" (ISIL).

After the leaders of 13 opposition groups rejected the status of the pro-Western government in exile in the face of the National Coalition of the Syrian Opposition and Revolutionary Forces, the prospect to overthrow the Syrian president by internal forces became quite hazy, especially when it became clear that the Kurds were supportive of Assad. Islamists from the FSA and ISIL, seeking to form the Great Caliphate under the patronage of Saudi Arabia, came across the Kurds in Syria, who were preoccupied with ideas about the Great Kurdistan. Turkey is the third party to the conflict - the country dreams of restoring the Great Ottoman Empire. There is a powerful economic base under this political conflict - the oil of Kurdish areas and the control of oil pipelines built from Iran, Iraq and Jordan to Mediterranean ports.

The disparity of forces (Turkey supports Sunnis) pushes the Kurds towards the alliance with al-Assad, who promised them broad autonomy in 2011. "These extremists (from Islamic groups ) are worse than the Assad regime. There is no excuse for their support," Ibrahim Bahzad told Reuters, one of the leaders of the KNC (an alternative to PYD, a wing of the Kurdistan Workers' Party). ''Ankara uses these gangs (Islamists) to fight against us, providing them with guns and ammunition. We can prove it; the Turks have cleared the minefield east of Serekaniye, to ensure their safe passage to the border," Salih Muslim, the leader of the PYD told the Turkish newspaper Taraf.

The Syrian government sees an alliance with the Kurds as a priority. Thus, special envoy of Bashar Assad, Omar Ose, visiting Erbil, the capital of Iraqi Kurdistan in early September, assured the Kurds that it would be much better for them to be friends with Syria.

"The current Syrian government is much better for the Kurds than the opposition. It is in the interest of the Kurds for Assad to remain in power," the Rudaw newspaper quoted Ose as saying. According to him, Turkey supports terrorist groups, not to give the Kurds a chance for self-determination. "He (Assad) asked to let you (the Kurds) know that we are not against you. We are friends, and we are fighting on one side of the front. If Syria is destroyed, then Iran will come next and after Iran - Kurdistan," the official said with reference to Bashar al-Assad.

He also assured the Kurds that the Syrian government would not impede the movement of Iraqi military forces on the territory of Syria, in the event the head of Iraqi Kurdistan, Massoud Barzani, orders to help the Syrian Kurds. " It just needs to be done in a coordinated way" Rudaw quoted Ose as saying.

Indeed, Assad should unite with the Kurds against Turkey. Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan is ready to help anyone, who wants to destroy his former friend. Turkish officials have repeatedly stated that they were concerned about the close relationship between the PYD and the Kurdistan Workers' Party ( PKK) that fights for Kurdish autonomy in southeastern Turkey. Ankara claimed that Assad armed the PYD and threatened military intervention. Needless to say that the Syrian President is too far from implementing those threats. However, the propaganda of the PKK that used to be banned in Syria, began to spread throughout the Kurdish region; portraits of PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan, who was the jailed in Turkey in 1999, can be seen everywhere.

The Kurds account for about 10 percent of the 23 million-strong Syria. The USSR used to be one of the main pillars of those fighting for the independent Kurdistan. Moscow also relies on the Kurds as one of the most sensible sides to the conflict. The Kremlin insists on their participation in Geneva-2 conference (the meeting of all stakeholders on Syria with the participation of authorities and of Syrian opposition).

The Kurds, unlike other peoples of Syria, are not in a hurry to leave the country, preferring to defend the right to a decent life with guns in their hand. Rudaw, the newspaper, describes the experience of one of the few Kurdish refugee named Azad, who took refuge in Greece. "Life in the camp is worse than in Syrian prison," said Azad . "Living conditions were horrible, with no medical care provided. The police treated us brutally. When I took a picture of one of such scenes, the police brutally beat me," said Azad.

The West flaunts its military, humanitarian and other assistance to "the Syrian people," who die because "bloody dictator Assad" does not want to part with power. It turns out that military assistance leads to the flow of refugees to the West, but refugees come across the treatment that is sicker than in "prisons of al-Assad." "Why did the US suddenly decide that Syria should be destabilized and its government be overthrown?" former National Security Advisor to President Jimmy Carter, Zbigniew Brzezinski asked himself in an interview with National Interest. And then he said: "I still do not understand it."

Lyuba Lulko

Pravda.Ru

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