Members of the Supreme Kurdish Council (SKC), a body uniting Kurdish parties from Syria, went for their first official visit to Moscow on June 2 and met Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov in Moscow, despite internal differences between Syrian Kurds. Moreover, they visited the Duma (Russian parliament) on Friday [June 7].
Syrian Kurdish parties went to Moscow in order to secure participation of the Kurds in the international peace conference Geneva II. They did not participate in an earlier conference of the Western-backed Syrian opposition in Istanbul at the end of May, despite efforts of European countries to convince the Syrian Kurds to join the Western-backed coalition.
According to the website of the Democratic Union Party (PYD), "the meeting marked the first official invitation from Russia and aimed at establishing diplomatic relations between the two parties. Among the topics discussed were SKC's position on the Syrian regime and the role of the YPG [People’s Defence Units, a militia of the PYD].”
Salih Muslim, PYD co-chair, Sinem Mohammed, co-president of the People’s Council of Western Kurdistan, Ismail Hama, head of the Unity Party, Saud Melle, member of the Kurdistan Democratic Party of Syria (KDP-S) and Ahmed Sulaiman, member of the Kurdish Democratic Progressive Party of Syria, headed to Moscow from Erbil on June 2.
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