US, France aim to boost Kurdish leverage at Syria talks, researcher tells KurdPress

<p style="text-align:left">A senior researcher at the Carnegie Endowment told KurdPress in an interview that the US and France are attempting to strengthen the Kurdish position in the possible negotiations over the future of Syria.

In the past month, the United States and France have made another effort to reunite two main Syrian Kurds, led by the Democratic Union Party (PYD) and the Syrian Kurdish National Council (ENKS). As some reports on such negotiations have been published, these negotiations have been held secretly for a long time.

KurdPress interviewed Professor Yezid Sayigh, a senior researcher on Syrian and Kurdish issues and a Senior Fellow at Carnegie Middle East Center, over the issue.

He believes that the US and France are following a common goal in mediating between main Kurdish movements in Syria and stated that &ldquo;I assume that the US and France are trying to improve the bargaining position of Syria's Kurds ahead of any future political talks involving the other main actors, i.e. the Assad regime, Russia, and Turkey.&rdquo;

He predicted that &ldquo;I wonder if this initiative indicates that the US and France have information that talks have already started or that there is an attempt to hold them soon, and maybe that is why they are taking steps to unite the Kurdish parties.

The senior fellow at Carnegie Middle East Center stated that there had been efforts before to unite the two main Kurdish movements in Syria but the attempts have been to no avail and expressed his doubt over the success of the new project and said: &ldquo;Whether they will be successful is another question: I don't believe that the US and France are sufficiently committed or have sufficient leverage.&rdquo;

Professor Yezid Sayigh called the rift between the two Kurdish blocs in Syria as deep and expressed his doubt the PYD and ENKS are ready to set aside their differences and said: &ldquo;I don't know if the Kurdish parties are finally ready to set aside their differences and agree a common platform.&rdquo;

Reporter&rsquo;s code: 50101

News Code 117972

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