UN urges Damascus on Kurdish rights, hails Öcalan truce call
QAMISHLI, Syria (North Press) – The United Nations urged on Wednesday Syrian authorities to guarantee that Kurds and other minorities are fully represented and protected under the country’s new transitional government, amid concerns over exclusion and fragile security.
Stephane Dujarric, spokesperson for UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, told Rudaw on the sidelines of the 80th UN General Assembly that “all people living in Syria, all Syrians, whether they be Alawites, whether they be Kurds, whether they be Sunni or Shiites, are represented, and that they feel safe and they feel protected by their government.”
His remarks follow criticism of the interim constitution signed in March by Syrian Transitional President Ahmad al-Sharaa, which has been rejected by Kurdish, Druze, Christian, and Alawite communities as exclusionary and overly centralized.
On the Kurdish question more broadly, Dujarric welcomed a recent call by Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) leader Abdullah Öcalan for his group to lay down arms, describing it as “a glimmer of hope.”
He added that the PKK-Turkey conflict has gone on for decades, hurting so many people and destroying countless lives, indicating that whenever a longstanding conflict shows even the possibility of resolution, one can only be hopeful.
He pointed out that the UN message to Kurds and all minorities is rooted in the Charter of the United Nations: “whether you’re in the minority or majority, you need to respect each other and you need to ensure that those rights are respected.”