Syrian Kurds Leave Geneva without Peace Talks Invites, say won't commit to any cease fire

Syrian Kurds Leave Geneva without Peace Talks Invites, say won't commit to any cease fire. (Naharnet).

Syrian Kurdish figures hoping to take part in fragile U.N.-brokered peace talks in Geneva have left the Swiss city after not receiving invitations to negotiations, sources told AFP on Saturday.

Saleh Muslim, head of the powerful Syrian Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD), had traveled to Geneva last week in the hopes his movement would have a seat at the table.

But he and his advisors left Geneva late Friday, a member of his party's team in Switzerland said.

"Yes, we left Geneva because we did not get invitations," the member said, speaking anonymously because he was not authorized to speak to the press.

"We will not commit to any decision that comes out of Geneva, including a ceasefire agreement," he added.

And Ilham Ahmad, the Kurdish co-head of an Arab-Kurdish joint council in Syria, told AFP she had also left the Swiss city on Friday night after not being invited to talks.

"Without us, this process will have the same fate as the last round of Geneva talks" in 2014, the PYD source told AFP.

Russia, which has helped President Bashar Assad's forces regain territory since starting air strikes in late September, also says that the Kurds must take part in any talks.

But the mainstream Syrian opposition body the High Negotiations Committee -- and its Turkish and Saudi backers -- have strongly objected to the PYD's participation. Read the full story here.