Syrian regime, opposition to agree against Kurdish-brokered federalism

GENEVA, Switzerland (Kurdistan24) – The delegation of the Turkey-backed Syrian opposition group at peace talks in Geneva on Sunday said federalism would be rejected as long as Bashar al-Assad was in power.

Mohammad Alloush, the chief peace negotiator of Syria’s mainstream opposition, told Kurdistan24 the system voted on by Kurds and other factions in northern Syria could not be accepted before toppling the Syrian regime and its president.

“We should get rid of the dictator [Assad] first,” said Alloush, who was a former senior negotiator with the Saudi-backed Higher Negotiations Committee during past rounds of UN- sponsored peace talks in Geneva.

Regarding the Kurdish-sponsored federalism, Alloush said preserving the unity of the country was a fundamental condition.

“Any solution approved by the Syrian people will be accepted, whether federal system or others, on condition of preserving the unity and sovereignty of Syria,” he said.

On the opposition expectations and demands for post-war Syria, Alloush said, “We insist on equality among citizens, and that every citizen shall have their rights, including the civil and cultural rights.”

“We seek equality and coexistence within a united Syria without any injustice or prejudice among its different factions,” he concluded.

The Kurdish groups YPG, PYD, and TEV-DEM that control wide areas of northern Syria were excluded from last year’s peace talks in Switzerland as well.

Syrian peace discussions held in 2016, known as Geneva III, also excluded the main Kurdish groups in line with the wishes of Turkey.

Syrian-Kurds are currently not represented in Geneva talks as a separate faction, but rather they are melted in the Syrian Government and opposition delegations.

They are fractured into three main groups: Damascus-based Syrian Kurds’ National Initiative (SKNI) within the Syrian Government’s negotiating body, ENKS belonging to the Syrian opposition, and the Syrian Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD), who were excluded from the negotiations until now.

Editing by Karzan Sulaivany

(Kurdistan24 correspondent Bargasht Akrayi conducted the interview in Geneva)