Kurdish Leader Reaches Preliminary Deal to Integrate SDF into Syrian Government
The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) Chief Mazloum Abdi announced that he has reached a “preliminary agreement” with the Syrian government to integrate the Kurdish troops into the Syrian Security Forces, according to AFP.
The two sides had reached “a preliminary understanding regarding the mechanism for integrating the SDF (Syrian Democratic Forces) and the (Kurdish) Internal Security Forces within the framework of defense and interior ministries,” Abdi said during an interview with AFP in Hasakeh, northeastern Syria on Sunday.
This agreement represents a significant milestone in the relations between Damascus and the Kurdish parties after the integration deal was held up by differences between both of them.
In March, Syria’s President Ahmad Al-Sharaa signed an agreement with Abdi to integrate the civil and military institutions of Kurds into the Syrian government. However, the integration process did not take place due to Kurds’ demands of a decentralized government.
The Kurdish parties had reiterated their demand of an approach that provides them with a measure of their de facto autonomy.
Moreover, they expressed their aspiration of being “effective partners in building a new Syria, a decentralized Syria that embraces all its people and guarantees their rights equally.”
In response, the government utterly rejected decentralization system and urged Kurds to abide by the landmark deal signed in March.
“We reject clearly any attempt to impose a separatist reality or to create separate entities under the cover of federalism… without a national consensus,” the Syrian Presidency said in a statement.
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