Turkey objects to PYD as date for Syria talks remains unclear

Ankara has objected to the inclusion of the Democratic Union Party (PYD) in Syrian peace talks on the side of the opposition, while the beginning of the peace talks, which were initially planned for Jan. 25, are still unclear.

Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu said some circles, including Russia, wanted to ruin the Syrian opposition’s position with groups such as the PYD, which he accused of collaborating with the Syrian regime and also attacking opposition groups.

• “As Turkey, we do not recognize any [group] other than the Syria national coalition as the opposition,” state-run Anadolu Agency reported Davutoğlu as saying at the World Economic Forum in Davos on Jan. 21. “If others want to be at the table, then they can be on the side of the regime.”

Davutoğlu said the parties for a solution to the Syrian crisis needed to be defined, which he said were the regime, on the one side, and the opposition, on the other.

He added that the opposition needed to choose itself who would represent them at the table, adding that no one had the right to impose anything on the opposition.

• Delays for peace talks

Meanwhile, United States Secretary of State John Kerry said the planned start of the peace talks could be delayed by “a day or two” for logistical reasons, but that the process would roughly begin on time.

Kerry said any delay in the U.N.-led negotiations would be due to the sending of invitations to participants.

“When you say a delay, it may be a day or two for invitations but there is not going to be a fundamental delay,” Kerry told reporters as he sat down to meet with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the World Economic Forum in Davos, the Associated Press reported.

“The process will begin on the 25th and they will get together and see where we are,” Kerry added.

Hours later, the U.N. said the talks would likely be delayed by a few days past the scheduled start date...

•  Russia trying to undermine Syria negotiations

Russia and others are trying to undermine negotiations on a solution for the conflict in Syria by including groups such as the Syrian Kurdish YPG militia, Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu said on Thursday.

In comments at the World Economic Forum in Davos, he said Russia was complicating the fight against Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) by bombing the moderate Syrian opposition and that international coordination was needed against the ISIL militants.

Stating that "terrorist groups" must not be represented at talks on a solution for the conflict in Syria, Davutoğlu said Turkey does not distinguish between ISIL and Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) militants in its anti-terror fight.
 hurriyetdailynews.com/todayszaman.com/ REUTERS/AFP/AP
21/1/16
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