When U.S. Patriots shot down an Iranian missile over Erbil on April 15, Kurds wondered why such defenses weren’t activated when they were attacked.

For survivors in the community, the prospect of going home is disappearing because of political inaction.

Türkiye is raising the heat on the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, denouncing its ties with the Syrian Democratic Forces.

The issue of unifying Kurdish military forces has been on the Kurdish region’s public agenda since 1991. Seventeen years later, the various peshmerga forces remain divided along partisan lines.

Modern jihadist organizations have taken advantage of continued instability to make themselves into territorialized organizations which frequently cross established state borders, such as the Islamic State.

Competing regional agendas continue to drive the two leading Kurdish actors in the region apart and because of this, they cannot agree on a joint policy to aid the Syrian Kurds.

Syrian Kurds fear that the Kurdish issue will be ignored in the Geneva II Syrian peace conference, despite the fact that Kurds control a significant part of northern Syria, including many oil-producing areas.

The Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), which is led by Iraqi President Jalal Talabani, says only that it supports minority rights within a democratic Syria and that it is not in favor of autonomy for Syrian Kurds.