Diverse sources are critical of Kurdish declaration of autonomy in Syria

The Kurdish-controlled areas of northern Syria have voted to seek autonomy. The vote was to unite three Kurdish-controlled provinces into a federal system. The move could complicate UN-backed peace talks, in which Kurds are not included.

The Kurds in Syria have had an autonomous area in northern Iraq since the fall of Saddam Hussein in 2003. The vote has brought criticism from diverse sources including the Assad regime, Turkey, and the United States.

US State Department spokesperson, John Kirby, said: "We don't support self-ruled, semi-autonomous zones inside Syria. We just don't. What we want to see is a unified, whole Syria that has in place a government that is not led by (President) Bashar al-Assad that is responsive to the Syrian people. Whole, unified, nonsectarian Syria, that's the goal."While the U.S. has given strong support to the Kurdish PYD party they nevertheless hope for a unified Syria. Turkey considers the PYD terrorists and is angry at American support for them. The Kurds, with American help, have wrested considerable territory from the control of the Islamic State. The Kurds seem less concerned with replacing Assad than with consolidating power over areas they control.

The Kurds will establish what they call the "federal democratic system of Rojava- Northern Syria." Rojava is the Kurdish name for northern Syria. Officials said preparations were being made to elect a joint leadership and a 21 member committee which would prepare a "legal and political vision" for Rojava within the span of six months.

A document at a recent meeting detailed the areas of autonomy: "... the aim was to "establish democratic self-administered regions which run and organize themselves ... in the fields of economy, society, security, healthcare, education, defense and culture." The Kurds insist that the federation is not an attempt to secede from Syria but simply to gain autonomy.

Syrian rebels also criticized the Kurdish move, insisting they oppose all forms of federalism and want a powerful national government. Russia may not oppose the move — Russia has suggested that a federal system is one possible way of resolving the civil war.

The Syria state news agency, SANA, reported that a foreign ministry source said: "Any such announcement has no legal value and will not have any legal, political, social or economic impact as long as it does not reflect the will of the entire Syrian people."

Turkey worries that an autonomous Kurdish zone in neighboring Syria could fuel separatist sentiments among its own Kurdish minority. It considers the PYD to be an ally of the PKK which is fighting for Kurdish autonomy in Turkey. A Turkish official said: : "Syria must remain as one without being weakened and the Syrian people must decide on its future in agreement and with a constitution. Every unilateral initiative will harm Syria's unity." The UN envoy, Staffan de Mistura, said:"All Syrians have rejected division (of Syria) and federalism can be discussed at the negotiations,"

The Kurds control an area stretching about 400 km or 250 miles along the northern Syrian-Turkish border. However, they also control a separate area that is separated from the main territories by about 100 kilometres or 60 miles most of it controlled by the Islamic State.

US sanctions ban Russian parliamentarian from global conference at UN

Valentina Matvienko is speaker of the upper house of the Russian parliament, the Federation Council. She is one of seven Russian officials targeted by U.S. sanctions including a travel ban.

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The ban does not actually bar officials from UN events. The pettiness involved in banning Matvienko is evident in that it is possible solely because of the technicality that strictly speaking, the event is not a UN event. The Inter-Parliamentary Union(IPU) that organized the event only has observer status at the UN. Nevertheless the event is held in the UN headquarters. Matvienko would not need to travel outside the UN headquarters while at the event except to travel to and from the airport. The U.S. actually offered Matvienko a visa to go the United Nations but barred her from attending the conference, which is at the UN!

The sanctions were imposed as punishment for the annexation of the Ukraine by Russia. Matvienko was on the agenda to speak at the Fourth World Conference of Speakers of Parliament, and was still able to give her address by a video link. It is difficult to see what benefit the US gains from the ban. Not only is it bad publicity for the U.S., it may cause future conferences to move outside the U.S. to the Swiss or other European offices of the UN. It also gave Matvienko a platform to denounce the U.S. She told the conference that the U.S. should realize that the days of U.S. superpower domination are over. A speaker from Iran, hardly a country on good terms with the U.S., was able to attend as were speakers from Vietnam and China.

Matvienko said she deeply regretted not being able to attend the conference that involved some 120 countries.Matvienko claimed the U.S. sanctions are illegal and "gross violations of the norms of international laws, and the principles of democracy and freedom of speech" and said: "Sanctions against parliamentarians elected by the citizens of their country because of their political views — and this in the 21st century — is nothing other than political persecution."

Saber Chowdhury, president of the IPU, said she was disappointed that Matvienko had been barred from the conference and said the IPU believed in dialogue "which regardless of differences is fundamental to democracy and international cooperation." John Kirby of the U.S. State Department would not discuss the case but noted that Matvienko remains under U.S. sanctions.

The conference is held only once every five years. This year the conference is discussing UN development goals that will be adopted at a world leaders conference late this month to combat poverty and tackle climate change.

Neither speaker of the US House of Representatives John Boehner, nor Mitch McConnell, majority leader of the US Senate attended the conference. They said they were unable to attend. The 120 countries that did send representatives will hardly have an improved attitude to the U.S., which cannot be bothered to send representatives itself but is anxious to ban a representative who wanted to attend.

Turkey attacks the Islamic State but also Kurds in northern Iraq

Washington has long urged Turkey to intervene against the Islamic State in Syria. After a suicide bombing that killed 32 people in Turkey, Turkish planes have targeted IS locations in Syria for two consecutive days now.

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If the Turks had simply bombed IS positions the US would no doubt have been quite pleased but Turkish planes also targeted shelters and storage sites belonging to the Kurdistan Worker's Party in seven different locations in northern Iraq. While the US has yet to make a statement on the Iraq attacks the PKK has said that conditions for peace talks with the Turkish government are no longer in place. Turkey had embarked on peace talks with the PKK in 2012, and the PKK had declared a cease fire in 2013. The Kurds in northern Iraq including the PKK units have been instrumental in defending the area against the Islamic State and even retaking some territory. In attacking the PKK, Turkey is attacking an ally in the fight against the Islamic State as far as the US is concerned. Turkey is very concerned about Kurdish gains both in Iraq and in Syria. It worries that an independent Kurdistan might be formed in northern Syria and that the Kurdish area of Iraq also becomes independent. There would be pressure within Turkey to join these other Kurdish areas.

In recent elections in Turkey the Kurds gained considerable ground politically. While there is conflict between the PKK and less radical Kurdish groups, an attack on the PKK may actually help promote a unified position against President Erdogan. Turkish actions may result in many more attacks by the Islamic State and perhaps also attacks by the PKK within Turkey. While bombing Islamic State positions helps in the battle against IS, bombing the PKK in iraq does exactly the opposite.

Washington may have agreed not to object to Turkish bombing of the PKK in return for Turkey joining the war against the Islamic State. However, Turkey made another important concession to the US. For months, the Obama administration has been negotiating an agreement to use bombers and drones to operate from air bases at Incirlik and Diyarbakir. An administration official said that the deal was sealed by a phone call between Turkish president Recep Erdogan and US president Obama. No official announcement has yet been made but, John Kirby, a State Department spokesperson, said simply that the US and Turkey had "decided to further deepen our cooperation in the fight against ISIL". Fadi Hakura, a Turkey analyst in London said: "The use of the Turkish air base is extremely important. Before, the U.S. had to traverse 1,000 miles to target IS in Syria. Now it will be much less, so naturally the air campaign will be far more intense and far more effective."

Turkey is in the process of clamping down on IS suspects and PKK militants. Erdogan will use increased attacks in Turkey to impose even more draconian anti-terror measures. He may very well tar any significant opposition to his rule as related to terror threats as has been done In Egypt and elsewhere. President Assad of Syria has made no statement about the Turkish bombings inside Syria.

No cease-fire in Yemen for Ramadan

The Yemen peace talks in Geneva have broken down with foreign minister Riad Yassin of the government in exile telling Al Jazeera his delegation will leave negotiations and return to Saudi Arabia on Saturday.

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Yassin blamed the Houthi rebel representatives for the collapse claiming that they would not meet with their delegation. That could be but the talks were to start with separate meetings of the UN with each group. The Houthis want to talk to Saudi Arabia since they consider the Saudis plus the Gulf Cooperation Council the real power behind the government in exile headed by President Mansour Hadi.

The basic problem from the start is that the Hadi delegation just wants to discuss implementing UN resolutions, and particularly one that demands the Houthis withdraw from the territories they have taken and lay down their arms. Yassin's remarks confirm this stance in that he complains that the Houthis have not complied with UN demands: "Until this time we have not achieved anything. Unfortunately, still the Houthis have not complied with anything." If the Houthis did withdraw and lay down their arms, then the Hadi government says there could be a permanent ceasefire and not a temporary truce as Ban Ki-moon sought during Ramadan. The Houthis would only agree to such a move only if there were an agreement on a government and political solution acceptable to them.The Hadi group says that a temporary truce would be used by Houthis to regroup and perhaps even capture more territory. Given this Hadi position it would seem pointless for the Houthis to meet with the Hadi delegation. What the Houthis wanted was to have agreement on a humanitarian cease fire as the UN and many western countries probably including the US want. The bombing has created a humanitarian disaster and many western allies of the Saudis would like to see a humanitarian pause in the battle at the very least. Even Yassin suggested that though the talks did not result in a ceasefire, discussions would be ongoing and the breakup did not mean the talks were a failure. During a temporary cease fire further talks could take place while Yemenis were spared even more havoc.

Ismail Ahmed, UN special envoy to Yemen said that a ceasefire should come before any new negotiations start. This seems quite sensible. He said he would redouble his efforts to achieve a ceasefire and hoped that an agreement could be reached soon. A UN spokesperson said that although no date had been set for a second round of talks, discussions could still be ongoing without any joint meetings as in Geneva. John Kirby a spokesperson for the US state department said that the talks were "a useful start to what will probably be a lengthy process." These remarks suggest that the talks were actually premature given the positions of the parties in the conflict. The same results could have been achieved by separate negotiations between the two parties. No doubt the UN hoped for a breakthrough before Ramadan.

Even as the talks took place, the Saudis continued bombing and clashes with the rebels also continued. The UN has called for $1.6 billion in aid to help alleviate the humanitarian disaster in Yemen. If there is no ceasefire it will be virtually impossible to deliver aid to many rebel-held areas.

At a news conference in Geneva, UN Undersecretary General for Humanitarian Affairs, Stephen O'Brien, warned of a "looming humanitarian catastrophe" in Yemen. It appears the catastrophe is already there. There is a sharp rise in hunger and disease, including an outbreak of dengue fever in the port city of Aden where there is a shortage of potable water. O'Brien said that millions of Yemenis "no longer have access to clean water, proper sanitation, or basic health care." Since March, the bombing and clashes have killed more than 2,500 people and displaced almost a million with many attempting to flee the country and even more internally displaced. The appended video is from Press TV an Iranian TV outlet.