Syrian government pulls out of Paris talks with Kurds after minorities call for federal system

Representatives of Syria's minority groups issued the call at a conference in Kurdish-controlled territory

Syrian President Ahmad Al Shara reached a deal with the leader of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces in March. AP

Syria’s government will not take part in talks in Paris to mediate differences with a powerful Kurdish-led force after it hosted a meeting of religious and ethnic minorities that called for a decentralised administration, Syrian state media reported on Saturday.

“The government affirms that this conference has dealt a blow to continuing negotiation efforts,” the Sana news agency quoted a government official as saying.

“Accordingly, it will not participate in any meetings scheduled for Paris and will not sit at the negotiating table with any party seeking to revive the era of the former regime under any pretext or cover.”

The official said the government calls on “calls on international mediators to move all negotiations to Damascus, as it is the legitimate and national address for dialogue among Syrians”.

Syria’s new government, set up by rebel groups who overthrew former president Bashar Al Assad in December, is seeking to extend its control over the entire country and integrate all armed groups into the state security forces after more than 13 years of civil war.

While many groups have complied, the US-backed, Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) have resisted despite agreeing to do so under a deal reached in March.

The Syrian government, France and the US announced last month that they had agreed to convene “as soon as possible” talks in Paris to integrate the autonomous Kurdish administration into the Syrian state.

The move is seen as essential as the new government, dominated by figures from a rebel group once affiliated with Al Qaeda, seeks to rebuild the country’s economy and infrastructure after winning international support and investment.

However, bouts of violence against minority groups by state or state-affiliated forces in the Sunni-majority country have raised concerns about whether the government will honour its promise to treat all citizens equally.

On Friday, hundreds of representatives of ethnic and religious minorities met in the SDF-controlled north-eastern city of Hassakeh and called for the formation of a decentralised state and the drafting of a new constitution that guarantees religious, cultural and ethnic pluralism.

They condemned recent acts of violence by pro-government gunmen against the country’s minorities – primarily Alawites, Druze and Christians – and argued that these amount to crimes against humanity.

The government has said it plans to hold elections next month and begin the process of drafting a new constitution, without providing a time frame.

Speaking at the conference, Ghazal Ghazal, the spiritual leader of Syria’s Alawite minority, to who Mr Al Assad belongs, called for setting up a decentralised or federal system that protects religious and cultural rights of all sections of the population, Associated Press reported.

The demand for a federal system was raised previously by SDF commander Mazloum Abdi, which the government rejected.

The government source quoted by Sana said that religious or ethnic groups have the right to express their political visions, provided “they do not impose their vision on the form of the Syrian state”.

“What happened in the north-east of the country does not represent a comprehensive national framework, but rather an alliance that includes parties harmed by the victory of the Syrian people and the fall of the defunct regime, along with some entities attempting to monopolise the representation of Syria's components by the force of the status quo,” Sana quoted him as saying.