"Once Madeleine Albright, former Secretary of State in Washington, put Maman Jalal’s hands in (veteran PUK Leader) Massoud Barzani’s (KDP leader) hands to get united, and today we are in the same situation again."

Rizgar Qasim, the leader of the New Movement of Syrian Kurdistan, told KurdPress that the U.S.-led negotiations between the Syria Kurdistan National Council (ENKS) and the Democratic Union Party have began, and both the U.S. and France are serious in this regard. However, the issue of unity among Kurdish movements had started previously by leading figures and intellectuals in Syrian Kurdistan.

He continued: "the first phase of the negotiations began with the participation of the Democratic Union Party and the National Council, and a political agreement was reached on a decentralized and federal Syria. The second phase of the negotiations is set to begin, but this time there are not not only the two parties, but also there are 25 other parties within the National Unity of the Kurds, mostly under the control of the democratic leadership that is ruling northern Syria, and they have formed a seven-member committee to negotiate with representatives of the Kurdish National Council.

The movement’s leader went on to add that this committee was supposed to hold talks last week with the representatives of the National Council, but the National Council's delegation went to Erbil and the meeting was called off. The National Council has returned to Syrian Kurdistan, but it has not made any remarks until now. We are waiting for them to return to the negotiating table and for the negotiations to begin. A lot of parties are involved in the new round of the talks and the wo blocs of the Democratic Union Organization (led by Sheikh Ali) and the Future Party are on the other side, but their approach is not known yet.

Pointing to the crucial stage through which Syrian Kurds are passing, Qasim said that Syria is at a critical stage, and Syrian Kurdistan is at a very important position, and there are big dangers ahead of it. And it is at a time that the central government does not believe in dialogue and the fundamental rights of the Kurdish people and governs the country with the same ideology it governed before 2011. On the other side, the situation in Syria is tense and there is dispute between Iran and Russia over Syria and Turkey’s dangers against Syria's north and east is not over.

He further clarified that the Kurds need a unified approach to Syrian and Kurdish issues. “We, as a Kurdish movement, are among the National Unity parties. Our movement believes that we need a single approach towards issues facing Syrian Kurdistan and if there is no unity in the region it will face a great danger; but unfortunately the National Council has so far refused to participate in the talks, and even it gets united with Turkey which is an enemy of the Kurdish nation.

Razgar Qasim reiterated that "It is still not clear what happened to the delegation after it went to Erbil and what they were told to there. We believe that dialogue should take place in Syrian Kurdistan and in Qamishlo and we can reach an agreement here, but when political decisions are made outside Syrian Kurdistan, there will be problems.

The head of the Kurdish movement pointed out: "We believe that, at this stage, we need a charismatic figure who should be a Syrian Kurd. General Mazloum Kobani has now emerged as a charismatic figure and has asked all Syrian Kurdish movements to join the unity talks. If there is no result for Kurds in Syria at this stage, then there will be a great blow to the interests of all Kurds.”

Concerning the impact of the talks among Syrian Kurdish parties on the Kurdish issue, the leader of the movement said that resolving the Kurdish issue in Syria would also affect other Kurds, as Syria Kurdistan is the strategic depth for the Kurds and it is near the Mediterranean Sea. We want to get to the Mediterranean Sea but Turkey, as an enemy of the Kurdish nation, cut the route by seizing Afrin.

Referring to the U.S. role in the talks between the two sides, he explained: "Any power is acting on its own interests. We are working on the basis of the interests of our people and our region and based on these interests we form our relations. We participate in the negotiations to protect our achievements in a decentralized and federal Syria. We hope this will happen and as I said, in the 1990s, the United States brought Iraqi Kurds together, so does it works to make Syrian Kurdish movements to become united.

Reporter’s code: 50101