Syrian Delegation Rejects Federalization, Meeting with Terrorists

Syria’s UN ambassador has rejected reported plans by the PYD terrorist organization to declare a federal region in the north of the country.

UN Envoy for Syria Stefan de Mistura met the national delegation led by Bashar Jaafari during peace talks Wednesday.

Regarding reports that the terrorist PKK-affiliate PYD — which was excluded from the peace talks — wants to establish a federal region in northern Syria, Jaafari said:

“The Syria talks prohibit raising such scenario. What we are talking about here [is] how to keep the unity of Syria and how to respect the unity, independence and territorial integrity of Syria.”

Jaafari added that “betting on creating any kind of divisions among Syrians will be a total failure”.

“l will not comment on unilateral statements from here and there,” he said.

Regarding the Russian decision to withdraw partially from Syria, Jaafari highlighted that it was taken jointly by President [Vladimir] Putin and President Assad. “So, it was not a surprise for us.”

Noting that the Syrian regime delegation has not been ready yet to have direct talks in Geneva with the opposition, Jaafari said he would never have direct talks with the leader of the Jaish Al Islam terrorist group and its chief negotiator Mohamad Alloush, branding him a “terrorist”.

Following the Jaafari’s press conference, UN deputy special envoy for Syria Ramzy Ezzeldin Ramzy told reporters that the UN has a clear position on this as the UN Security Council.

“All the Syrians l talked to have stressed the importance of territorial integrity of Syria. The future form that Syria will take will be decided by Syrians themselves,” Ramzy said.

“We did enter into substantive discussion today (with Syrian regime). We asked Jaafari and his team for clarifications on the paper submitted by the government of Syria. The substantive discussions have started,” he noted, adding that “some things are agreed on by both sides…We have a good starting point as of now.”

The new round of talks in Geneva aim to end the war that has seen at least 250,000 Syrians killed and more than 11 million displaced, led to the rise of the so-called ‘Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant’ (ISIL) takfiri group and sparked a refugee crisis.