A U.S.-backed Kurdish-led alliance said on Saturday that it is seeking a roadmap for a decentralised Syria in talks with the government which opened in Damascus this week.
The Syrian Democratic Forces alliance, which controls a swathe of the north and the northeast, said it had agreed with the government to form joint committees to discuss the major issues after a first round of talks on Thursday and Friday.
The SDF’s political arm, the Syrian Democratic Council, said the aim was to “clear the way for a broader and more comprehensive dialogue” and forge a “roadmap leading to a democratic and decentralised Syria”.
‘Long and arduous’
Sihanouk Dibo, an advisor to the main Kurdish faction, the leftist Democratic Union Party (PYD), said he expected the negotiations to be tough. “It is still very early to talk of an agreement but we are working on it,” he said. “The negotiations will be long and arduous because the Damascus regime is very centralised.”
Before civil war erupted in 2011, Syria had a highly centralised form of government which provided no constitutional recognition for the rights of the Kurds and other minorities.