Syrian Kurds, the Democratic Union Party (PYD), and the Strategic Framing of the Civil War

Book excerpt: The book mainly analyzes the lobbying attempts of the PYD to sell its model of governance through the specific arguments with a purpose for engaging with the international powers, the US and the UK, and these countries’ responsiveness towards the PYD arguments. While analyzing the PYD’s strategies for lobbying and the responsiveness of the US and the UK, the book also considers the counter-lobbying efforts of Turkey and its potential challenges on these countries’ responsiveness towards the PYD arguments. The author argues that the responsiveness of the US and the UK towards the PYD arguments is mainly related to these countries’ policy stances and policy objectives in Syria during the civil war. In this regard, the overlapping or conflicting policy objectives between the PYD, the Turkish government, and the US and the UK play a significant role in the responsiveness of these countries towards the PYD arguments.