Autonomous Administration delegation showed that they are not separatists during negotiations with Damascus – Senior Syrian politician
Damascus – North-Press Agency
Ahmed Kanaan
The Secretary-General of the People's Party, Nawaf al-Mulhim, said in an exclusive interview with North-Press that the delegation of the Autonomous Administration in North and East Syria has proven during meetings with the Syrian government delegation that they are not separatists and do not call for the partition and division of the country.
Negotiations between the Syrian government and the Autonomous Administration are in flux; sometimes the agreement floats on the surface, and sometimes the dissonance and disagreement have a louder voice.
During the past periods, several rounds of dialogue were held between delegations from Autonomous Administration and the government of Damascus, but neither have produced satisfactory results for either party so far.
In an attempt to shed light on the meetings and dialogues that took place in Damascus and learn more about them, North-Press met with internal opposition figure Sheikh Nawaf al-Mulhim, Secretary-General of the People's Party, whose name emerged as a permanent member of these negotiations.
Al-Mulhim, who visited Qamishli city with representatives of internal opposition forces and parties during the recent period and met with the Autonomous Administration delegation for negotiations with Damascus, said: "We were informed of the vision of the Autonomous Administration for a solution which serves the Syrian people. We presented them with the Local Administration Act issued in 2012, which, if actually implemented, it would be a satisfactory solution. We don't say all the articles and provisions of the Act serve Syrians, and we don't see in the Autonomous Administration proposal what is circulating to the whole of Syria."
Regarding the stance of the Syrian government toward the demands of the Autonomous Administration in North and East of Syria and its insistence on returning to a time before the Syrian war, al-Mulhim explained, "If the Syrian government wants to return to before 2011, this is a big mistake, because there were mistakes before 2011 that the government should have avoided, but the crisis broke out in Syria and everything got mixed up."
He pointed out that the decree issued in 2012, which granted citizenship to the Kurds, was issued in 2005, but remained suspended and was not applied because those implementing these resolutions from the Syrian state were not among those granted citizenship rights.
On the goals of the meetings between a delegation of forces and parties from the internal opposition and the delegation from the Autonomous Administration, he stressed that "the meetings aim to find a common agenda between the two parties and present it to the Syrian government. It is not within its power to discuss the agenda because the agenda should be presented within the Syrian constitution, and personally I see that the Local Administration Act of 2012 is good, but needs amendments to be the best solution.”
Al-Mulhim said, "The Autonomous Administration delegation demanded the rights of all peoples in the areas under their control, and even the SDF expressed its willingness to be in the Syrian army, but with conditions."
Regarding the return of discussions and dialogues between the Autonomous Administration and the Syrian government, which witnessed a stalemate after the meeting held on February 2nd, al-Mulhim said: "I hope that the dialogues will begin soon to break the ice between the two parties and reach a peaceful political solution, away from the military one."