ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - A delegation representing the Kurdish-held northeast Syria (Rojava) is set to visit Damascus on Friday to meet with officials from the interim government as part of the March agreement between the Kurdish enclave and the transitional government, a top commander said on Wednesday.
Mazloum Abdi, commander-in-chief of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), and Syria’s interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa signed a landmark agreement in Damascus about the future of Rojava and the integration of its institutions into the Syrian government. The deal has been widely welcomed by regional and Western countries, including SDF’s arch-foe, Turkey.
A month after the deal was signed, a delegation from Damascus visited Abdi. Following the meeting, the SDF announced that a five-member delegation, representing different parts of northeast Syria, would visit Damascus for further talks.
The Commander-in-Chief of the Northern Democratic Forces, Abu Omar al-Idlibi, whose force is part of the SDF, said on Wednesday that the delegation will arrive in Damascus on Friday.
“The committee is heading to Damascus on the 30th of this month to formalize the agreement concluded between the President of the Republic and General Mazloum Abdi, which represents a pivotal step on the path to consolidating national stability and strengthening the unity of the Syrian state,” he said in a social media post.
He hoped that the talks could lead to “a comprehensive and sustainable solution.”
Kurdish ruling and opposition parties are also in talks to form a joint committee to officially present a list of Kurdish demands to Damascus, which include decentralization. This followed a historic intra-Kurdish conference in Qamishli last month.
Damascus condemned the conference, viewing it as a separatist move. However, Abdi emphasized during the event that the aim of the conference was to strengthen Syria, not divide it.
The Syrian president said in a statement on March 10, following the deal with the SDF, that “the Kurdish community is indigenous to the Syrian state, which ensures this community’s right to citizenship and all of its constitutional rights.”
