An agreement reached in Moscow Monday between the Kurdish Syrian Democratic Council and the People’s Will Party, raised controversy over the impact of such a move on the current developments in east Syria, against the backdrop of Russian-US contentions and Moscow accusing Washington of backing conflicts in the region.
The new inter-Syrian agreement, backed by Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, constitutes a new test to the Russian coordination with Turkey in the area.
Ankara was fast to warn against “any moves that back the terrorist Kurdistan Workers’ Party.”
However, head of the People’s Will Party Qadri Jamil told Asharq Al-Awsat that the agreement constitutes a turning point, adding that Syrian parties realize there is no alternative than reaching joint agreements.
Jamil downplayed the importance of Turkey’s objections on the Kurdish representation, adding that both Moscow and Cairo are concerned about the participation of all platforms in the agreements. “Ankara will not be able to obstruct this,” he said.
Monday’s agreement stated that it has become necessary for all democratic patriotic forces to move to joint action to stop the Syrian tragedy and destruction.
Signed by both President of the Syrian Democratic Council, Ilham Ahmed, and Jamil, the agreement said: “The new Syria is a united Syria, land and people. It is a democratic state that achieves equal citizenship and social justice. It is proud of all its components (Arabs, Kurds, Syriac Assyrians, Turkmen, Armenians, Circassians) and sees in its variety of identities an enriching factor that strengthens its unity and social fabric integrity.”
It added that Syria’s constitution is democratic, achieving an advanced formula for the relationship between decentralization, on the one hand, which guarantees the people to exercise their direct authority in the regions, and achieves self-sufficiency, equitable distribution of wealth and development throughout the country, and centralization of basic functions on the other hand.
The agreement said both sides agreed that a political solution, based on the sovereignty of the Syrian people in all its components and the right of people to self-determination, is the only way out of the Syrian crisis.
The two parties said they support and work for the full implementation of UNSCR 2254, including the implementation of the Geneva Communiqué and the inclusion of the other opposition platforms into the Syrian political process, including Syrian Democratic Council.
“This resolution is a tool to enforce the right of the Syrian people to fully restore the Syrian sovereignty, and work to end all sanctions and all forms of siege imposed on the Syrian people; to end the politicization of humanitarian aids; and to end all foreign occupations and forms of external intervention along with the various bearers thereof, leading to the departure of all foreign forces from the Syrian soil,” it wrote.
The agreement noted that the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria is an objective necessity and a societal need related to the conditions of the country and the needs of the region which have been produced by the current crisis, and it is important to benefit from the experience of the Autonomous Administration, its advantages and disadvantages in a way that strengthens the unity of the Syrian territories, the sovereignty of its state and its general administrative system.
Both Qadri and Ahmed had met Lavrov on Monday.
The Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement that “Lavrov has reaffirmed Russia’s readiness to continue aiding the promotion of inclusive constructive inter-Syrian dialogue in the interest of the soonest recovery and reinforcement of Syria’s sovereignty, unity and territorial integrity, the formation of conditions for harmonious co-existence and development of all ethnic and religious parts of the Syrian society.”
