A commander in the Syrian Kurdish National Council said that they would not accept forces being brought in from outside the region to administer the eastern Euphrates area, adding that the opposition Kurdish National Council was mobilizing diplomatically with international and regional powers—especially America, Russia and Turkey—to have an active role in the majority Kurdish areas there.
Fouad Alleko, a commander in the Kurdish National Council, said, “so far, there is no mechanism regarding the participation of opposition forces in the safe zone,” adding that, “the American-Turkish understanding has not achieved many detail in terms of which local forces will manage this area in terms of security and administration.”
Alleko said that the Kurdish National Council was mobilizing diplomatically so that the Council would, “have an active role in the Kurdish-majority areas in terms of security and administration, especially given that the Council has a well-trained military force and can fill the resulting vacuum.”
He stressed that the “Kurdish National Council does not accept the bringing in of forces from outside the region to protect it, because the region’s people and all of its communities are able to administer their military, security and administrative affairs under the supervision of international powers without the need for others from outside the region.”
A representative of the Kurdish National Council in the Iraqi Kurdistan Region, Emad Barhou, said that it was expected that a delegation from the Council would visit Washington to hold meeting with State Department officials, adding that the safe zone issue would be a subject of the delegation’s discussions.
On Friday, a delegation from the Council’s foreign relations committee met with the Russian president’s envoy to the Middle East and North Africa and deputy Foreign Minister, Mikhail Bogdanov, in Moscow to discuss the safe zone and the Syrian issue.
This article was translated and edited by The Syrian Observer. The Syrian Observer has not verified the content of this story. Responsibility for the information and views set out in this article lies entirely with the author.
