Northern Syria is Arab, not Kurdish: Assad

ERBIL, Kurdistan—Northern Syria is not Kurdish, Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad said in an interview with Russian news outlets.

In the interview aired on Friday, Assad touched on a number of topics, including that of Kurds and their forces in northern and northeastern Syria.

The president, who made sure to say non-Arab groups, such as Armenians and Kurds, had come to Syria in the past 100 years, and argued that northern Syria, which Kurds call Rojava and consider part of greater Kurdistan, is home to an Arab majority.

“I would like to clarify that this area in northern and northeastern Syria is a majority Arab area. 70% of the residents are Arabs, not the other way around. Even the forces fighting there are a mixture of Kurds and Arabs," Assad said.

“Things are different from northern Iraq and southeast of Turkey. There is no Kurdish majority in this area,” said Assad.

The country’s north and northeast have been controlled for years by Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces, a mixture of Kurdish, Arab and Christian fighters who were instrumental in the war against the Islamic State (ISIS). The Kurdish-led forces were closely supported by the US during the fight against the terror group.

“The Americans, however, supported the Kurdish groups and gave them the leadership to create the image that the area is Kurdish to create a Kurdish rivalry with the other groups in Syria,” Assad claimed.

However, Assad stated that they have problem with only “a section” of Kurds who are “political extremists” that support “separatist propositions”.

“This doesn’t mean that the Kurds are not patriotic. I affirm that most of the Kurds are patriotic, standing with their state and the Syrian people, just like any other component,” he added.

Months ago, when the US was stationed at border cities to prevent a Turkish-invasion of Kurdish-controlled areas, Kurds were the only groups that could pose a challenge to the Syrian president, who is near total victory in Syria’s eight year-long civil war. In early October, following a phone call with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, US President Donald Trump abruptly withdrew US troops from Kurdish-controlled areas.

This paved the way for a Turkish invasion into northern Syria, prompting the SDF to make a military deal with Damascus for Syrian troops to return across the north for the first time since 2011.

Kurds are yet to reach a political agreement with the Syrian regime. Kurds want decentralization in the form of local autonomy, something Assad completely rejected in the interview.

Assad also, indirectly, rejected cultural rights for Kurds that the Kurdish-led authorities have been asking for since day one, equating it to separatism.

"Why do we give cultural rights to a group and not to another? For a simple reason. The reason why is because the group that says this have proposed separatist proposition. Neither today nor tomorrow, both as a state and people, [will we] accept any separatist proposition," Assad explained.

As for Kurdish-led forces, there are talks to have them join the Syrian Army, Assad revealed.

“Communications [with the Kurdish groups] continue. It was not cut off during the war despite knowing that some of these groups are dealing with the Americans, led by the Americans, armed by the Americans, funded by Americans, its statements written by the Americans,” said Assad.

“There is currently dialogue, following the return of the Syrian Army [to Kurdish-controlled areas], for the purpose of persuading them that stability can be established when we all adhere to the Syrian constitution as the constitution is an expression of the people.”

There has been “progress”, and at times there is stalling because there is “American pressure” exerted on the Kurdish-led forces “so that it doesn’t respond to the Syrian state”, added Assad.

“Currently we are more optimistic that things are going towards this direction [of settlement],” claimed Assad.

As for Kurdish-led forces joining the Syrian Army, the Syrian president claimed that Syria and Russia are trying to “persuade” the forces that joining the Syrian Army to “fight the Turkish invader” is the “right place”.

“We have to keep trying to see in the next weeks how things turn out.”

The SDF previously rejected a call from the Syrian Defense Ministry for their forces to join the Syrian Arab Army, arguing that their special status must be preserved.

The president’s new-found assertiveness, however, reflects the changing realities on the ground.

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