ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - France will continue to support efforts aimed at enhancing cohesion among different Syrian groups, the country's Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Jerome Bonnafont, told Rudaw on Tuesday, adding that Kurdish integration in Syria ought to be addressed within this context.
The UN has "a huge presence on the ground" in Syria, the French diplomat told Rudaw's Namo Abdulla in New York, adding that "national reconciliation" is "at the heart" of the UN Security Council's monthly meetings on Syria.
The other objective "is building a Syria with a new institutional framework within which the rights of citizens belonging to each and every community are respected," he added.
Bonnafont's remarks came in response to Rudaw's question about the recent protests by Kurds in northeast Syria (Rojava) against a decision by Damascus to end Kurdish-medium schooling in Syria.
He described language as "one of the crucial components of any community's identity."
The Syrian education ministry decided in late August to make Kurdish a mandatory subject to be taught three times a week while ending full Kurdish-medium instruction in Rojava. Schools in the enclave had been using Kurdish as a primary language for the past 14 years since the withdrawal of toppled Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad's forces in 2012.
Language rights emerged as a central topic in the integration process of Rojava's military and civilian institutions in the new Syrian state system. The process began in January, with its continuation ultimately yielding the disbandment of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) last week.
Syrian authorities have to bridge the relationship between various groups and the state through "discussion, dialogue, negotiation, and peaceful democratic channels," Paris's envoy to the UN stressed.
“It is within that context that we will examine the issue of the Kurds' integration in Syria as it is being rebuilt,” he noted, hinging hopes on Syrian authorities to treat their population “radically” different “to how it has been doing” to thereby “fuel development.”
