The Japan Times - Syria's Kurds hail 'positive impact' of Turkey peace talks

Earlier this year, the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) ended its four-decade armed struggle against Turkey at the urging of its jailed founder Abdullah Ocalan, shifting its focus to a democratic political struggle for the rights of Turkey's Kurdish minority.

The ongoing process has raised hopes among Kurds across the region, notably in Syria where the Kurds control swathes of territory in the north and northeast.

"The peace initiative in Turkey has had a direct impact on northern and eastern Syria," said Elham Ahmad, a senior official in the Kurdish administration in Syria's northeast.

"We want a dialogue process with Turkey, a dialogue that we understand as Kurds in Syria... We want the borders between us to be opened," she said, speaking by video link to an Istanbul peace conference organised by Turkey's pro-Kurdish opposition DEM party.

Speaking in Kurdish, she hailed Turkey for initiating the peace moves, but said releasing Ocalan -- who has led the process from his cell on Imrali prison island near Istanbul where he has been serving life in solitary since 1999 -- would speed things up.

"We believe that Abdullah Ocalan being released will let him play a much greater role... that this peace and resolution process will happen faster and better."

She also hailed Ankara for its sensitive approach to dialogue with the new regime in Damascus that emerged after the ousting of Syrian strongman Bashar al-Assad a year ago.

"The Turkish government has a dialogue and a relationship with the Syrian government. They also have open channels with us. We see that there is a careful approach to this matter," she said.

- 'Ocalan can play a role' -

Turkey has long been hostile to the Kurdish SDF force that controls swathes of northeastern Syria, seeing it as an extension of PKK, and pushing for the US-backed force to integrate into the Syrian military and security apparatus.

Although a deal was reached to that end in March, its terms were never implemented.

Ankara knows that its own peace process with the Kurds cannot be separated from the Kurdish question in Syria and is hoping Ocalan will use his influence to sway the SDF, Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said on Saturday.

"I believe he can play a role," he told the Doha Forum on Saturday, saying he had personally engaged with the PKK leadership during earlier peace efforts between 2009 and 2013 when he was spy chief.

"We reached an understanding, but later on it was abandoned by the PKK because of Syria," he said, warning that "the past can repeat itself".

"That's why Syria is very critical. I believe (Ocalan) can play a role."

Ahmad said Turkey had a "very important role" to play in the ongoing changes in the region, saying peace in Turkey and Syria would "impact the entire Middle East".

Syria's Kurdish community believed coexistence was "fundamental" and did not want to see the nation divided, she said.

"We do not support the division of Syria or any other country. Such divisions pave the way for new wars. That is why we advocate for peace."

T.Maeda--JT