The Syrian Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD) has opened its first European representation office in Moscow, a development that reveals close ties between the PYD and Russia and has caught the wary eye of Ankara.

Attending an official ceremony on Wednesday, Merab Shamoyev, chairman of the International Union of Kurdish Public Associations, hailed the move as a historic moment for the Kurdish people.

Shamoyev praised Russian support for the PYD and called Russia a great power and an actor that “writes the script” in the region.

Russian intervention in Syria’s complex war has altered the situation on the ground and reversed the tide of war in favor of the Bashar al-Assad regime.

Turkey views the PYD, and its armed wing the People’s Protection Units (YPG), as a Syrian offshoot of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK). Apart from Russia, the PYD also has close ties with the US.

The cooperation between the PYD and the US in the fight against the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) has increased, much to the dismay of Ankara.

Russian firepower has aided Syrian forces in their advance north in the country, cutting rebel supply lines and prompting another mass exodus of refugees toward the Turkish border.

Turkey and the Western-backed rebel groups accuse the PYD of collaborating with the Assad regime and capitalizing on the regimes offensive by capturing villages from rebel groups north of Aleppo.

The PYD expressed its plans to open offices in Paris, Berlin, Washington and other countries as well.

The group does not feel a need to hide its links to the PKK, which is listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the US and EU.

A photo of jailed PKK leader Abdullah Öcalan was seen on a wall behind the PYD officials at the opening ceremony in Moscow.