A spokesman for the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) said Tuesday that recent clashes between Syria’s military and Kurdish forces are a setback for peace efforts with Turkey, arguing that the fighting is aimed at derailing the talks, Agence France-Presse reported.
“The developments in Syria and the larger Middle East have a direct effect on the peace process in Turkey,” said Zagros Hiwa, a spokesman for the political wing of the PKK, in comments to Agence France-Presse.
Hiwa said attacks “against the Kurds” were a “plot and conspiracy against the peace process” and signaled a setback.
The remarks come amid rising tensions in northern Syria between Syrian government forces and the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), which has controlled large parts of northeastern Syria for nearly a decade.
Turkey has long opposed the SDF, saying it is linked to the PKK, an armed group that has fought the Turkish state for decades. Turkey and its Western allies designate the PKK as a terrorist organization.
Ankara has backed moves by Syria’s new authorities to expand control in areas that had been under Kurdish-led rule and has repeatedly called for the SDF to disband and for its fighters to be removed from the Turkish border region.
The PKK’s comments also come as Turkish officials have emphasized the need for calm in northern Syria during efforts to transfer Islamic State detainees from prisons in northeastern Syria to Iraq, warning that renewed fighting could increase the risk of escapes and instability.
