Kurdish authorities reveal results of meetings with Syrian government

QAMISHLI (Kurdistan 24) – The Kurdish-led council in north Syria on Saturday said it had decided with the Syrian government to chart a roadmap for a democratic and decentralized Syria.

The Syrian Democratic Council (SDC), which is considered the political wing of the Kurdish-led, US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), said in an online statement the Syrian government had invited them to a series of meetings in Damascus.

“The meeting resulted in decisions to form committees at various levels to develop dialogue and negotiations, to end the violence and war that has engulfed the Syrian people, and to chart a roadmap leading to a decentralized democratic Syria,” the SDC statement reads.

SDC said it met Syrian government officials in Damascus this week at Assad’s invitation after initial meetings in Tabqa on the Euphrates River that focused on restoring local services to the Euphrates dam, the largest dam in Syria.

So far, there has been no immediate confirmation from the Syrian government.

Reports of negotiations and alleged agreements between the Kurdish authorities in northern Syria and the Syrian government spread after the former took down YPG flags in cities across the region earlier this month.

Relations between the Syrian government and the Kurdish-led administration in the northeast have been pivotal in the course of the seven-year civil war, as they have mostly avoided direct conflict.

But they have articulated sharply opposing visions for the future, with the Kurds seeking self-administration and recently a federal region in a decentralized state, while the Syrian government wants to restore full central control.

Editing by Karzan Sulaivany