Syria negotiates while Turkey threatens

Between war and peace in Turkey and Syria – last week in Kurdish news

As we wait for news on the dissolution of the PKK, this week’s article begins with the politics surrounding the expected announcement. It goes on to examine Wednesday’s meeting between France’s President Macron and Syria’s Interim President, Ahmed al-Sharaa. It looks at debates over that meeting, and at the relative weakness and short-term pragmatism of al-Sharaa, as exemplified by some worrying recent appointments.

Syria negotiates while Turkey threatens

Quiet diplomacy has brought Syria some provisional agreements that demonstrate the possibility of retaining regional autonomy, despite Turkey’s looming presence. Meanwhile in Turkey, hopes for peace are currently focussed on an Istanbul hospital where one of the main negotiators was rushed for major heart surgery.

Erdoğan, Trump and Netanyahu – last week in Kurdish news

In Turkey, hopes for peace talks have been revived by the DEM Party’s visit to Erdoğan, the first such visit in thirteen years, but democracy continues to be under assault. In Syria, negotiations have yielded some positive results for North and East Syria, but Trump’s admiration for Erdoğan introduces new dangers

Syrian negotiations, between a rock and a hard place – last week in Kurdish news

This week brought news of an interim agreement that could prove a positive step towards greater security for Syria’s Kurds and their neighbours. The agreement is between the Civil Council of the Kurdish majority neighbourhoods of Aleppo and the caretaker government in Damascus, and it has come at a time when Syria has become a battleground for competition between Turkey and Israel.

Erdoğan mocks peace hopes by choosing the path of autocracy and war – last week in Kurdish news

Turkey has opened up a path to peace, but chosen to follow a very different route. The government is refusing to make the changes needed for the PKK to enact Öcalan’s call to dissolve. This destructive intransigence is being compounded by continued military violence in Syria, and now by an existential assault on the remnants of Turkish Democracy through the detention of Erdoğan’s main political rival. Peace and Democracy are intertwined, and both are being asphyxiated.