After the US-sponsored peace talks, a french delegation has met the rival Kurdish parties PYD and ENKS. Both the US and France are involved in a plan to reconcile the parties. Between ENKS and PYD many problems have occurred over the past few years. The parties have big ideological differences. PYD has arrested ENKS-members, closed party offices and has excluded ENKS-leaders from its territory, as it feared the party would grow in influence. Now that PYD has lost a big part of its territory, it is open to peace talks.
The French delegation first met with the Barzani-affiliated Kurdish National Alliance (ENKS), which has had problems with the PKK-affiliated the Democratic Union Party (PYD). The delegation reportedly engaged in direct talks with the PYD leadership the day after.
The PYD and its military wing, the People’s Protection Units (YPG), are both extensions of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), which has fought for autonomy in Turkey for more than three decades and is designated a terrorist group by Ankara, the US and EU.
France, which hosted Syrian-Kurdish delegations in Paris last year, has not released an official statement about the visit. Ties between France and Turkey have been strained in recent years, mainly because of their divergent regional policies.
Both France and the US have interest in keeping North-East Syria in hands of their ally, the Kurds. North-East Syria holds a major part of Syria’s oil reserves.
France holds talks between PYD and ENKS
