Salih Muslim, head of the Democratic Union Party (PYD), the most dominant Kurdish force in Syria.

LONDON – Syria’s most powerful Kurdish opposition group sees the
European Union (EU) as a more viable model for Syrian Kurds than Iraq’s
autonomous Kurdistan Region, its leader said.

“I can be a Kurd living in Syria, and another can be living in Iran,
and we’re all together in the democratic confederation of the Middle
East — all together ” said Salih Muslim, head of the Democratic Union
Party (PYD), the most dominant Kurdish force in Syria.

“At that time, the Kurds can be united without changing any borders,” he told Rudaw, during a recent diplomatic visit to London.

The PYD, widely seen as the Syrian arm of the militant Kurdistan
Workers Party (PKK) in Turkey, has had tense relations with the larger
Kurdish Supreme Council (KSC) in Syria.

Kurdistan Region President Massoud Barzani has tried to unite the
Syrian Kurdish opposition groups, which remain plagued by divisions as
the uprising against President Bashar al-Assad is in its third year,
with an estimated 70,000 people dead.

An agreement signed in Erbil between the PYD and Kurdish National
Council (KNC) last July, to jointly monitor the affairs of Kurdish
cities in Syria, did little to stem differences and failed to have a
large impact on the ground. Another effort at unity by Erbil earlier
this month reportedly also received a lukewarm response by the PYD.

According to the NGO KurdWatch, the PYD declined to sit at the table
with members of Mustafa Cummaa’s Azadi (freedom) Party, accusing it of
involvement in the killing of Kurds, and instead met separately with
Barzani.   But Muslim denied his party is against a power-sharing
agreement with the other Kurdish groups. He said that any disagreement
between his and other parties is insignificant and local.

Muslim also emphasised Turkey’s role in the troubled relations
between Kurds and the Syrian opposition, blaming Ankara for problems
between the Kurds and Free Syrian Army (FSA).

Muslim has lately visited several European countries, such as
Germany, France, Holland and the United Kingdom, and he was recently in
Moscow for a conference on the Kurds and Syria.

“We have to do something. Maybe the government does not accept to
receive us. But we are knocking on every door to explain the demands of
the Kurdish people,” he said about his travels.

Muslim said his group was not against the Erbil Agreement.

“The Erbil agreement is like a gift from Mr Barzani to the Kurdish
people, and we don’t like to break it up. But what happened is not about
the agreement” Muslim said. He added that the problem stems from
disagreements within the KNC, which was formed in October 2011, under
Barzani’s sponsorship.   According to a report by the International
Crisis Group (ICG), the formation of the Kurdish Democratic Union within
the KNC in December 2012 — a group uniting four of Barzani’s leading
KNC members — increased disagreements.

“Internal KNC divisions appear to further narrow the possibility for
agreement (between the Syrian Kurdish factions),” the ICG report said.

The Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) led by Barzani, has been focused
on empowering the pro-Barzani faction within the KNC, according to the
ICG.   Muslim welcomed any mediation efforts by Iraqi Kurds and Barzani,
but rejected support by Barzani for rival factions of the PYD.   “We
don’t want him to extend his hand to help one party against another. We
don’t want anyone to be involved in internal relations, because we know
what to do. We are able to solve our problems,” he said.  Muslim further
reiterated that the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) is not an
example for Syrian Kurds. “We won’t be like them because our situation
is different”, he said.

”But we are very careful. We don’t want to draw any lines between the
Kurds and Arabs, so we can have our rights within one Syria, not a
divided Syria,” he said.  “We are not regarding the KRG as an example
for us.”

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