Saleh Muslim, the joint leader of the Kurdish Democratic Union Party or PYD, said in an interview with Al-Monitor, that Turkey's ground military operation against the Syrian Kurds is almost ruled out because Russian President Vladimir Putin, has not agreed to Turkey's ground operations against the Syrian Kurds neither at the Tehran summit nor in a private meeting with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Sochi, Russia. Also, the presence of various Russian-Syrian and other forces in the north and northeast of Syria has created an obstacle against Turkey's ground operations in the regions.

However, Salih Muslim emphasized that Erdogan is an unpredictable character and may order ground military operations against the Syrian Kurds.

The PYD joint leader believes Turkey will continue military operations against the Syrian Kurds by military drones.

Regarding the negotiations between the Kurds and the central government of Syria, he said that there were no political discussions during the negotiations between the two sides and that what took place was only negotiations around the military axis. Muslim emphasized that due to the insistence of the Syrian government on the full control of the areas controlled by the Syrian Kurds, the negotiations between the Kurds and Damascus have not made any progress. He emphasized that the Kurds are against the way Syria is governed.

About the demands of the Syrian Kurds, Saleh Muslim said: "We want to preserve the self-governing administration within the framework of a unified Syrian state. Kurds expect their language, race and rights to be recognized and they want to live within the framework of a single country called Syria.

The senior Syrian Kurdish official said about the relationship between the Syrian Kurds and the United States that this relationship revolves around the fight against ISIS, and the Kurds do not expect the United States to protect them, but rather, the Kurds rely on themselves to protect themselves.

Regarding the structural dependence of the Autonomous Administration and the Syrian Kurdish forces on the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), Muslim said: The Syrian Kurds and their institutions have no connection with the PKK, nor do they take orders from this group, but the officials of the institutions in the controlled areas are all Kurds from Syria.

He emphasized that the accusation of the dependence of Kurdish institutions in Syria on the PKK is Turkey's excuse to confront the Syrian Kurds.

Regarding the relationship between the Syrian Kurds and the Syrian government, he said that in 2012 he personally met and discussed with Syrian authorities in Cairo and inside Turkey, but because Turkey wanted the activities of the Syrian Kurds within the framework of Ankara's policies, these negotiations did not come to a conclusion, and the way of the Syrian Kurds is separated from the Turkey' path and the rebels of the Free Syrian Army.

Saleh Muslim considered the reason for Turkey's involvement in the issues of neighboring countries such as Iraq and Syria as to be the unresolved issue of the Kurds in Turkey and its spread to two neighboring countries, namely Iraq and Syria. He emphasized that the political solution of the Kurdish problem in Turkey will help a lot to solve the problems related to the Kurds in Iraq and Syria.

The leader of the Syrian Democratic Union Party said the failure of the Kurdish-Kurdish negotiations in Syria or the negotiations of the Syrian Kurds with the Kurdistan Region were due to Turkey's non-constructive interference in such negotiations.

He emphasized that the crisis in the Middle East will continue until Turkey does not resolve the issue of its Kurds.

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