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Syrian Kurdish Official says Group Ready to Talk to Damascus

by Associated Press

   BEIRUT --

   The dominant U.S-backed Syrian Kurdish party that controls large swaths
   of oil-rich territory in northeastern Syria is prepared to hold talks
   with the Damascus government over the future of the area, a senior
   Kurdish official said Wednesday.

   The proposition came a day after Turkey and the United States agreed on
   a "roadmap" to resolve a dispute over the northern Syrian town of
   Manbij, which is controlled by the U.S.-backed Kurdish fighters,
   Washington's main ally in Syria.

   Ankara sees the Syrian Kurdish militia and its political body as an
   extension of its own Kurdish insurgents, whom it considers terrorists.
   Turkey has been pushing Washington to get Syrian Kurdish militiamen out
   of the town of Manbij and across the Euphrates River to its eastern
   bank.
   The roadmap envisions joined Turkish-U.S. patrols around Manbij after
   the Kurdish militia withdraws from the town. But the deal, which could
   ease tensions between the NATO allies, is likely to force a realignment
   of troops along the volatile Syria-Turkey frontier and shrink the area
   controlled currently by the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces, which
   are backed by the U.S.
   Aldar Khalil, the senior Kurdish official, said his party is ready to
   sending a delegation to "test the waters" to see whether President
   Bashar Assad's government is ready to accept an autonomous Kurdish area
   in the northeast.
   The offer is not a reaction to the U.S-Turkish deal, he added. An
   earlier round of talks with Damascus, sponsored by Russia, yielded no
   results.
   "The aim would... be to develop a Syrian-Syrian solution and close the
   door on conflicts and wars," Aldar said in a series of messages on a
   social media application. "If the result is peace and stability, then
   it is in the interest of all."