Syria's Kurds declare de-facto federal region in north

BEIRUT -- Syria's Kurds on Thursday declared a de facto federal region in Kurdish-controlled areas of northern Syria, drawing sharp condemnation from the Damascus government and its opponents who decried the unilateral move as unconstitutional and setting a dangerous precedent.

The declaration further complicates the situation on the ground in Syria even as peace talks press ahead in Geneva.

The main Syrian Kurdish party has been excluded from those talks -- perhaps an indication of why the Kurds chose this moment for their move.

In Syria's civil war, Kurdish fighters have emerged as the most effective fighting force against the Islamic State group and are backed militarily by the United States. More recently, Russia has backed them politically.

But despite Russia's insistence they should be part of the talks that started this week in Geneva, they have not been invited because Turkey considers the group to be a terrorist organization.

"Everybody rhetorically appreciates the Kurds, they all acknowledge the Kurdish fight against ISIS and that they are great warriors, but this is not being reflected in the diplomatic spectrum," said Mutlu Civiroglu, a Washington-based Kurdish affairs analyst, using an alternative acronym for the Islamic State group.

Thursday's announcement triggered fears a Kurdish federal unit would lead to a partition of the war-shattered country -- a formula that may make sense in principle after five years of devastating fighting but one that would be messy and unpalatable to most parties.

Some 200 Kurdish officials, who met in the town of Rmeilan in Syria's predominantly Kurdish province of Hassakeh, insisted they are not partitioning Syria nor seeking secession but rather making sure the country remains one nation.

"A federal and democratic Syria is a guarantee of coexistence and brotherly relations," said an online posting from the conference.

Nawaf Khalil, an official with the Democratic Union Party, or PYD, said participants at the Rmeilan meeting included Turkmen, Arabs, Christian and Kurds.

They all approved a "democratic federal system for Rojava-Northern Syria," he said.

Rojava is a Kurdish word that refers to three distinct enclaves, or cantons, under Kurdish control in northern Syria: Jazira, Kobani and Afrin.

The Kurds, a longtime oppressed minority under decades of Assad family rule, have taken advantage of the chaos of the civil war to advance their goals of autonomy.