ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock in Damascus on Thursday met with a delegation from northeast Syria’s (Rojava) ruling Syrian Democratic Council (SDC) to hear their concerns regarding the country’s political transition.
They discussed the Kurdish issue in Syria, the landmark agreement between the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) and the interim government, and recent developments regarding the transitional period, the SDC, the political wing of the SDF, said in a statement.
The SDC delegates expressed their “optimism that the next phase could serve as an entry point to end the state of war and achieve peace and stability,” but also expressed their “disappointment with the mechanism for appointing the new president, which did not witness real participation of Syrians,” said the SDC statement.
The transitional government, led by President Ahmed al-Sharaa whose Islamist group Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) spearheaded an offensive that ended the rule of Bashar al-Assad in December, has come under fire, especially from minority groups who say they are being excluded and warn that the recently adopted interim constitution cements authoritarian rule.
The SDC delegation touched on this issue during their meeting with the German minister.
“In this context, the delegation of the Syrian Democratic Council emphasized that the constitutional declaration adopted by the new administration reproduces authoritarianism in a new form, as it enshrines centralized rule and grants the executive branch broad powers, while restricting political action, which hinders the path of democratic transformation and neglects transitional justice mechanisms,” read the SDC statement.
Baerbock said that she raised these concerns in her meetings with the leadership in Damascus.
“Representatives of Kurds, Christians and Alawites with whom I spoke today warn against giving in to a threatening division along sectarian lines. In my long conversation with transitional President al-Sharaa and Foreign Minister [Asaad] al-Shaibani, I emphasized once again: Syria will only be safe if it is equally safe for everyone,” she said on Instagram.
The Kurds have signed a deal with Damascus - inked by SDF chief Mazloum Abdi and Sharaa under American mediation - to integrate the SDF and Rojava institutions into the new government. Baerbock praised the agreement on Thursday.
Baerbock arrived in the Syrian capital on Thursday to reopen Germany’s embassy after a 13-year closure.
The reopening of the embassy means Berlin wants to “say very clearly” that it is back in Damascus, Baerbock was cited by the German state-run broadcaster Deutsche Welle (DW) as stating.
Germany “has a paramount interest in a stable Syria,” Baerbock stressed, adding however, that no German ambassador will be positioned in Damascus for the time being and that such a move depends on “further political” and “security” developments in Syria.
