{"id":132958,"date":"2025-12-07T10:46:12","date_gmt":"2025-12-07T10:46:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/npasyria.com\/en\/?p=132958"},"modified":"2025-12-07T10:46:14","modified_gmt":"2025-12-07T10:46:14","slug":"analyst-says-ankara-sdf-shift-opens-historic-moment-for-kurds","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/npasyria.com\/en\/132958\/","title":{"rendered":"Analyst says Ankara\u2013SDF shift opens \u201chistoric moment\u201d for Kurds \u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>QAMISHLI, Syria (North Press) \u2013<\/strong> Middle East analyst Adel Bakawan, director of the European Institute for Studies on the Middle East and North Africa (EISMENA), said on Saturday that ongoing political shifts between Ankara, the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), and regional actors are creating an unprecedented moment that could reshape relations in Syria\u2019s northeast.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In a post on his official Facebook account, Bakawan said a potential meeting between Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdo\u011fan and SDF Commander-in-Chief Mazlum Abdi has reached an advanced stage of preparation, describing the timing as \u201coptimal\u201d for both sides and in the \u201cinterest of Kurds and Turks alike.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">He stressed that the Kurdistan Region of Iraq played a significant role in paving the way for this emerging political landscape.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Bakawan added that if the Ankara\u2013SDF meeting takes place, a follow-up meeting between Abdi and imprisoned PKK leader Abdullah \u00d6calan is already being envisioned. &nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Such a development, he noted, would carry major implications for regional Kurdish politics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">According to Bakawan, Syria\u2019s Transitional President Ahmad al-Sharaa, is seeking help from both Saudi Arabia and the United States to prevent direct contact between Abdi and Erdo\u011fan out of concern that Northeast Syria could evolve into a model similar to northern Iraq\u2014something al-Sharaa views as a strategic threat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">He argued that as long as Damascus strengthens ties with Riyadh, Ankara will continue to edge closer to political actors in Qamishli, further reshaping regional alignments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Bakawan stressed that nationalism\u2014not ideology, history, religion, or culture\u2014is the primary driver of current regional calculations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">He concluded that the moment requires \u201chistoric decisions\u201d from Kurdish leaders, posing the strategic question: \u201cWhere should the Kurds align\u2014Turkey or Israel, Iran or Turkey?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>By Jwan Shekaki<\/strong><\/h3>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>QAMISHLI, Syria (North Press) \u2013 Middle East analyst Adel Bakawan, director of the European Institute for Studies on the Middle East and North Africa (EISMENA), said on Saturday that ongoing political shifts between Ankara, the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), and regional actors are creating an unprecedented moment that could reshape relations in Syria\u2019s northeast. In [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":132959,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pgc_sgb_lightbox_settings":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-132958","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Analyst says Ankara\u2013SDF shift opens \u201chistoric moment\u201d for Kurds \u00a0<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"QAMISHLI, Syria (North Press) \u2013 Middle East analyst Adel Bakawan, director of the European Institute for Studies on the Middle East and North Africa\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" 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