Ankara's 'PYD nightmare' not over yet

It is not clear if Salih Muslim, the co-chair of the Syrian Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD), was not invited to the Geneva talks because of pressure from Turkey or much broader considerations. Ankara says the PYD is a terrorist organization allied to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK).

Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavu?o?lu said on Jan. 26 that if the PYD was present in Geneva, Turkey would boycott the talks, which are due to start Jan. 29. Whatever the reasons for Muslim not being invited, this has saved Ankara from a difficult situation. 

Boycotting talks aimed at bringing peace to Syria would not have enhanced Turkey's already shaky reputation in the eyes of its allies. It would also have given the impression that Turkey was willing to let the bloodshed in Syria continue if its demands were not met. 

It seems, however, that the U.S. is not going to object to the exclusion of the PYD leader, even though it is allied with the People's Protection Units (YPG), the group's military wing, against the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL). 

Russia was pushing for the PYD's inclusion in the Geneva talks but appears to have conceded on this point too. This does not mean that Washington and Moscow have given up supporting the PYD or the YPG. 

The U.N.'s special envoy, Staffan de Mistura, reportedly sent out invitations to a number of Kurds, including Haytham Manna and Ilham Ahmed, the co-chairs of the Syrian Democratic Council (SDC).

The SDC, which is billed as "a secular democratic Arab-Kurdish coalition," was established in December 2015 with Washington and Moscow's blessing. It is the political wing of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), which is allied with the U.S.-led coalition against ISIL.