Syrian opposition refuses talks with terrorist YPG/PKK

ISTANBUL

A top Syrian opposition group said on Monday that it refuses to include the terrorist YPG/PKK in negotiations to draft a new Syrian constitution.

Nasr Al-Hariri, head of the Syrian Opposition Coalition (SOC), said that the coalition had come under pressure from several countries to let the YPG/PKK join the talks.

Al-Hariri told an online press conference that the coalition does not consider the YPG/PKK – an offshoot of the terrorist PKK – part of Syria but instead a terrorist group that recruits foreign terrorists to fight on its side.

He confirmed that the SOC refuses to sit at the same table as the YPG/PKK.

Al-Hariri added that SOC will boycott elections the Assad regime says it will hold next year.

The Syrian opposition said a fourth round of UN-supervised Constitutional Committee meetings with delegations representing the Assad regime and civil society is due to start next Monday, Nov. 30.

The third round convened in August after months of suspension due to the coronavirus pandemic and failure to agree on an agenda between the Assad regime and the opposition.

Syria has been embroiled in a vicious civil war since early 2011, when the Bashar al-Assad regime cracked down on pro-democracy protests with unexpected ferocity.

Since then, over 5 million civilians have become homeless.

In its more than 30-year terror campaign against Turkey, the PKK – listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the US, and EU – has been responsible for the deaths of 40,000 people, including women, children and infants. The YPG is PKK's Syrian offshoot

*Ahmed Asmar contributed to this report from Ankara