Syrian Kurds say Ocalan’s message 'has nothing to do with us'

Thousands of Kurds in northeastern Syria gathered in public squares on Thursday to listen to a long-awaited message from Abdullah Öcalan, the leader of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) from a Turkish prison. Öcalan's statement has sparked widespread concern about the future direction of the Kurdish regions in Syria.

In a historic statement, Öcalan called on the PKK, which he founded, to lay down its arms and disband. "All groups must lay down their arms, and the PKK must disband," he said. Öcalan's call to "all groups" suggests he may be referring to all branches of the PKK in Syria and Iran. Since 2012, Syrian Kurds have been able to establish a semi-autonomous region in northeastern Syria, which they call Rojava, meaning Western Kurdistan.

Turkey has repeatedly targeted the region, claiming that the U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), the official military branch of Rojava, is an offshoot of the PKK, which has been fighting Turkey since 1984. The SDF denies any connection to the PKK. Syrian Kurds hope that the resumption of the peace process with Turkey, which collapsed in July 2015, will bring greater stability and end Turkey's cross-border military operations and drone strikes. Syrian Kurdish officials had previously traveled to Turkey to participate in the last peace process, but have since been labeled as terrorists.

Although Öcalan did not mention Syria, some now worry whether the SDF will also disarm. Salih Muslim, an official with the Democratic Union Party (PYD), a Syrian Kurdish political party, told Al-Araby TV, "If the attacks against the Kurds end, there will be no need to use weapons." Samantha Till, a researcher at the Rojava Information Center (RIC) in Syria, told Middle East Eye, "SDF officials interviewed by RIC have stated that simply laying down their weapons is not possible due to the current threats facing northeastern Syria – primarily attacks from Turkey and the Turkish-backed Syrian National Army (SNA)."

On Thursday, Mazloum Abdi, the general commander of the SDF, told reporters at a press conference in Washington, D.C., "Öcalan's message concerns the PKK and has nothing to do with us in Syria." He also added that if Turkey achieves peace, "there will be no reason for Turkey to attack us in Syria." Officials from Turkey's pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) have also stated that Öcalan's call for disarmament is not directed at the SDF, Till said.

Sinam Mohamad, the Syrian Democratic Council's (SDC), the political wing of the SDF, representative to the United States, told Middle East Eye, "Öcalan's statement is historic and comes at a time of major changes in the Middle East. At the end of any war or conflict, the best way forward is to seek a peace agreement." Mohamad said the statement has brought the Kurdish issue to the international stage and called for a lasting solution. "The statement will have a positive impact on Rojava and Syria. I hope it will bring peace and end the conflict against our people in northeastern Syria... Let us work together in Syria to rebuild our country," she said.

Meanwhile, in Iraq, Jadaan Ali, the representative of the Kurdish National Council (KNC) of Syria in Erbil, the capital of the Iraqi Kurdistan Region, also welcomed Öcalan's call. The KNC, which is aligned with the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), has traditionally been a rival of the Democratic Union Party and the SDF. "It is a positive development, and we hope that the call to lay down arms and dissolve the PKK will bring peace and blessings to the Kurdish people. We believe that abandoning weapons and entering the civic and political process is a positive development," he told Middle East Eye. "The era of militancy is long gone. We also hope that this will unite Kurds in all Kurdish geographical areas through dialogue, democratic processes, elections, and local administration."

The Kurdistan Regional Government has also expressed its support for a peace process with Turkey and has encouraged unity talks between the Democratic Union Party and its Syrian Kurdish rival, the Kurdish National Council. In mid-January, former President of Iraqi Kurdistan Masoud Barzani advised SDF leader Abdi to distance himself from the PKK at a meeting in Erbil. "We have taken a very active role again to bring the Kurds of Syria with all the different parties, not just the SDF, together, so that they have a unified force in Damascus to ensure that they are represented, that they are respected, and that they are part of the new government," KRG representative to the United States Bayan Sami Abdul Rahman said at a Kurdish conference at the University of Central Florida on Thursday.

Analysts believe that a new peace process with Turkey would make it easier for the United States to support the SDF. Former U.S. Ambassador Peter Galbraith, also speaking in Florida, said that Öcalan's message should be a positive sign for Syrian Kurds. "If the PKK disarms, and the argument that Turkey makes that Rojava is an ally of the PKK falls apart, then Turkey has nothing to fear from Rojava," Galbraith said. David Romano, a professor of Middle East politics at Missouri State University, added, "If the PKK disarms, and they [the SDF] don't disarm because they are not part of the PKK, then that could be positive [for Syrian Kurds]." "Then that argument is strengthened. I don't think the Syrian Kurds are in a position to disarm, they need their weapons to protect their autonomy and their rights," Romano told Middle East Eye.

White House National Security Council spokesperson Brian Hughes told Voice of America that the White House hopes "this will help alleviate the concerns of our Turkish allies about the U.S. partnership with our partners in northeast Syria to defeat ISIS." Local Kurdish media reported that attacks by Turkish-backed groups have not stopped so far, with shelling targeting the countryside around the Kurdish-majority city of Kobani. Lukman Ehmi, co-chair of the Syrian Democratic Green Party and former spokesperson for the Kurdish-led autonomous administration, told Middle East Eye, "Turkish-backed groups are still attacking our regions to this day." "While the war has subsided in most parts of Syria, we hope that these attacks can stop and that the country can transition to a process of national reconciliation," Ehmi said. "We can build together a pluralistic, democratic, and decentralized Syria – one that can address cultural, political, and economic issues."

Syrian journalist Hosheng Hassan noted that a successful peace process would also make it easier for the SDF to reach an agreement with a new government in Damascus that has good relations with Turkey. "If Turkey does not put pressure on Damascus, I think an agreement will be easier to reach," he told Middle East Eye. So far, negotiations between the SDF and Damascus to find a solution for Syrian Kurdish autonomy have not yielded results. The new Syrian government insists on integrating the SDF into the Syrian army and a centralized state, while the Syrian Kurds seek autonomy and decentralization. "We believe that restoring a centralized government in Syria will only produce the same results. This approach has been tried before, and the consequences were not only failure but a humanitarian disaster that killed millions of people," Ehmi said.