Syrian peace talks in jeopardy as Turkey’s Davutoglu vetoes Kurds

theaustralian.com.au ^ | January 21, 2016 12:00AM | Hannah Lucinda Smith, Tom Coghlan

[Trumpinator]

Syrian peace talks in jeopardy as Turkey’s Davutoglu vetoes Kurds

Hannah Lucinda Smith, Tom Coghlan

The Times

January 21, 2016 12:00AM

Talks aimed at ending the Syrian war appeared doomed yesterday, as Turkey vetoed any Kurdish presence in the rebel negotiating team and Russian-backed regime forces pressed on with their ­offensive on several fronts.

A diplomatic push to bring peace to Syria begins in Geneva on Monday, thanks to a rare ­display of unity from the UN Secur­ity Council, which produced a “road map” to peace in November.

However, UN spokesmen warned of potential “slippage” in the start of talks amid signs of fractures among the rebels and their backers, particularly over the role of the Kurds, the most potent force against Islamic State in Syria.

Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu used a visit to London to declare that Ankara refused to recognise the main Syrian Kurdish opposition, the PYD, as representative of the rebels.

“If the Russians want (the Kurds at the peace talks) they can be on the regime side. On the opposit­ion side, no,” he said.

The PYD’s military wing, the 40,000-strong YPG, has been an American ally, driving back the jihad­ists with the help of US aircraft and special forces.

[Truth29]

It would be a shame if the Turkish army units crossing into Syria without the permission of the Syrian government and cozying up to ISIS were to get a few love notes from Vlad.