On the ground in Syria, relations are still tense. On June 14, the PYD dispersed a meeting of the pro-KDP party in Syria celebrating the foundation of the establishment of the KDP in Syria in Malikiye, removing the KDP-S logo on their office in Kobane, or Ayn al-Arab in Arabic, for not accepting the laws of the new canton administration.
“We have never had problems with the PYD. The PYD made these problems by doing this unilaterally (creating canton administration). So we want the PYD to work with the other Kurdish parties, and once they follow the agreements we have no problems with them,” Hemin Hawrami, the KDP’s foreign relations chief, told Al-Monitor.
Gharib Hassou, a PYD representative in Iraqi Kurdistan, told Al-Monitor that the PYD wants the KDP to recognize their administrations, and not to revive the 2012 Erbil agreement between the PYD and KDP-backed Syrian Kurdish parties.
“We want the KRG to address the canton administrations, and hold negotiations with them, but the KDP has not taken such a position, and just addresses other [KDP-backed] parties as their interlocutors, not the administrations. These administrations are a government, not small parties. This does not benefit the Kurdish people,” Hassou said, adding, “Unfortunately the border agreement is not an agreement between the KRG and the canton administration, just between the administrations of the border gate on both sides.”
While the ISIS offensive has rekindled sentiments of Kurdish unity on the surface, divisions remain deep. With Barzani’s current control over most of the Iraqi border with PYD-held areas in Syria, and Turkey’s control of the other border crossings, it seems Barzani has gained the upper hand in his struggle with the PKK.
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