Kurds

Russian-Turkish relations are very rich, both in terms of contacts at the highest level and their substantive agenda, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on March 31. 

Speaking at a meeting of the Moscow-based think tank Valdai Discussion Club, Lavrov said the two countries are able to bring out solutions, even on issues on which the parties have almost opposite views.

People in Iraq’s autonomous region of Kurdistan are voting in an independence referendum, amid rising tensions and international opposition.

Polls opened at 05:00 GMT with balloting also taking place in the disputed areas between the northern city of Erbil and the capital Baghdad, as well as the oil-rich province of Kirkuk, which is ethnically mixed.

Syrian Kurds are taking critical steps to deal with the threat of being caught in a vise between their worsening relations with the Damascus regime, and Turkey’s possible cross-border operations. Syria’s Kurds have just proposed a new governmental structure comprising three federal regions and six cantons in the Democratic Federal System of Northern Syria (previously known as Rojava).

Moscow is unlikely to ever give up its Kurdish card despite Turkey's requests that Russian President Vladimir Putin end cooperation with the Syrian Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD), a former soldier and political analyst has said.

Photo: Reuters

BELGRADE - Washington and Ankara are supporting radical groups operating on Syrian soil, a senior Syrian Army official told Sputnik.