Russian FM says Syrian Kurds should follow Erbil-Baghdad example

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on Friday said Kurds in Syria should look to Erbil and Baghdad as a model of cooperation.

During a press conference in Moscow, Lavrov said Russian forces went to Syria at the invitation of Bashar al-Assad’s government.

“We have been promoting contacts, direct contacts between the Kurdish representatives, and the official Damascus [government], so they will finally engage in direct dialogue on how they coexist together, live together in one single country,” he said in response to a question from Kurdistan 24's Moscow correspondent Khoshawi Muhammad.

Iraq is a good example of how different people can live peacefully together, Lavrov said. “I visited these places and I said this positive experience should be shared with the Syrian Kurds, so they can benefit.”

“When President Trump announced the US will be withdrawing from Syria, the Kurdish leaders immediately started asking us to build bridges with Damascus,” he said.

Lavrov claimed, however, that the Syrian Kurds “changed their mind.”

“Our Kurdish colleagues probably thought the US would decide everything for them,” he said. “We are ready to help facilitate contracts and consultations, more engaged in this kind of work, it should be consistent with what you're saying and what you're doing.”

Unlike in Syria, the autonomous Kurdistan region of Iraq is recognized by the Iraqi constitution.

The US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces and their allied civilian administration control large swathes of the northeast part of the country, and US troops ultimately stayed after Trump’s announcement.

Lavrov accused Washington of inciting Kurdish separatism, and said Kurds who want to normalize relations with Damascus should realize it is a “provocation” and would “bring no good.”

Talks between the Syrian government and the Kurdish administration have failed despite Russian mediation. The Syrian Kurdish leadership has pushed for some degree of autonomy in the northeast, as well as recognition of the local administration, but Damascus insists on the full return of all Syrian territory to central government control.

Tensions between the Syrian Kurds and Damascus have led to fighting between the autonomous administration’s forces and pro-Syrian government militias around the cities of Qamishlo and Hasakah in the northeast.