New Syrian FM rejects Kurdish autonomy in Syria: report

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – Syria’s new foreign minister was cited in Russian state media on Monday as saying Damascus does not plan to recognize Kurdish autonomy in the country’s northeast.

In an interview with Russian state news agency Sputnik, new Syrian FM Faisal Mekdad was asked about repeated statements made by Damascus regarding the question of Kurdish autonomy, which the Syrian government has claimed should be determined by the people.

However, Mekdad said Damascus has no plans to support autonomy in Syria because the Syrian people “have decided that Syria is one country.” No such referendum has taken place to determine such a claim.

He also claimed the central government could not grant some regions of the country, such as the northeast, a special status because Syria is not the size of Russia, “a big territory.”

“We cannot afford [to have] a country divided,” he added, “so the unity and territorial integrity of the country should be preserved.”

Mekdad echoed similar statements made in the past by Syrian President Bashar al-Assad about Syria being “indivisible,” and said, “those who have dreams or illusions that Syria will be divided will…not be accepted.”

Mekdad was appointed Syria’s new foreign minister in November, replacing Walid Muallem, who died due to poor health conditions.

Previous talks between the central government in Damascus and the Kurdish-led Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES) have failed. The AANES calls for a degree of self-autonomy, but Damascus insists on a full return of all territory within Syrian borders to the central government.

Local authorities, however, are in a much weaker position since being forced to make a deal with Damascus to deploy national forces to protect the border against Turkish attacks that began on Oct. 9, 2019.

The former co-chair of the Syrian Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD), Salih Muslim, told Kurdistan 24 in an interview earlier this month that the Syrian government and the Syrian opposition are not willing “to discuss the rights of the Kurdish people.”

The Commander-in-Chief of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), General Mazloum Abdi, earlier told the International Crisis Group (ICG) that the SDF have tried for years to find a middle-ground with Damascus. 

“Today, we don’t think that a bilateral agreement is possible, and we believe that the status of the northeast should be settled as part of an internationally-guaranteed deal that would include all of Syria,” Abdi said.

Muslim, meanwhile, said the PYD “will remain an advocate for dialogue” with Damascus “to understand the causes of the hostilities.”

We have “knocked on many doors in Damascus to keep the door open for talks, yet our words fall on deaf ears,” Muslim said. “We learned that the government has not changed its old mindset,” and is not ready to discuss the Kurdish question.

Editing by Karzan Sulaivany