GENEVA, March 21. /TASS/. Syria’s Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD) maintains contacts with the Syrian government, hence its representatives cannot side with the opposition at the peace talks in Geneva, Salim al-Muslat, a spokesman for the High Negotiations Committee (HNC), the main Syrian opposition group at the Geneva peace talks, said on Sunday.

"Those who are in talks with the regime, who share its views should represent the opposite side at the talks," he said when asked why no representatives from the Kurdish Democratic Union Party had been included into the HNC.

He said three Kurdish representatives are members of the HNC negotiating team, adding that "all Syrian groups, including the Kurds, were invited to the Riyadh meeting."

Haytham Manna, a co-chair of the opposition Syrian Democratic Council, was invited to take part in the Riyadh meeting but decided not to attend it just ahead of the meeting. He explained his decision by the fact that no representatives from the Kurdish Democratic Union Party had been invited.

Parliamentary elections due in April are illegitimate

Another HNC representative, Yahya Al-Kodmani, told journalists on Sunday that Syria’s opposition High Negotiations Committee (HNC) thinks that parliamentary elections in Syria due on April 13 are illegitimate and he insists on holding another round of intra-Syrian consultations before that day.

"We consider these elections illegitimate," he said, adding that HNC insists that the second round of the intra-Syrian consultations be held immediately.