Syrian Kurds, allies to approve federal plan despite Turkey

reuters.com ^ | Thu Sep 8, 2016 8:40am EDT | Tom Parry

[BenLurkin]

Syrian Kurdish groups and their allies will approve a constitution for a new system of government in northern Syria next month, a top Kurdish politician said, defying a Turkish incursion aimed at curbing Kurdish influence in the area.

The new system will be established in parts of the north where Kurdish groups have already carved out autonomous regions since the start of the Syrian conflict in 2011, alarming Turkey which fears the rise of Kurdish influence on its border.

"We have decided to convene a meeting of the founding assembly of the federal system at the start of October, and we will declare our system in northern Syrian," Hadiya Yousef, who chairs the assembly, said in an interview.

"We will not retreat from this project. On the contrary, we will work to implement it," she said.

"The Turkish intervention will not obstruct us."

Kurdish officials say the new system will deepen and widen the existing autonomous administration, allowing for an expansion into areas that have been captured from Islamic State by Kurdish militia and their allies from other ethnic groups.

The plan underscores the Kurds' emergence as a major force in Syria since the onset of its war. While Kurdish officials deny suggestions they aim to establish a Kurdish state, they do not hide their goal of safeguarding their autonomy in a country where they faced systematic discrimination before the conflict.

Their unilateral moves are taking place against a backdrop of international failure to promote a wider peace. Their efforts are opposed by both the Syrian government and its Sunni rebel opponents, but underpinned by one of the most powerful militias in the country, the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG).

... YPG has also been an important partner for the United States in its campaign against Islamic State in Syria.