AANES rejects Damascus government accusations
QAMISHLI, Syria (North Press) – The Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES) said on Friday that the Damascus government’s accusations of “promoting separatist projects” are “false, far from reality, and unfounded.”
In a statement published by its Department of Foreign Relations on its official Facebook, AANES called on the Damascus government to give priority to the national interest in Syria and be open to serious dialogue.
On Thursday, the Syrian Foreign Ministry, in a statement, accused the Autonomous Administration of “promoting separatist projects in Western countries,” and that it intensified “plotting against the homeland and participating in the aggression against it.”
The Syrian Foreign Ministry added that the self-rule in the northeast is nothing but mere projects “aimed at weakening Syria in the face of conspiracies and providing free services to the American occupiers, and directly and indirectly, to the Turkish aggressor.”
The Department of Foreign Relations in the Autonomous Administration rejected accusations, “because this discourse is the one which destroyed Syria and will not have any positive effect on Syria.”
Last Monday, at a French invitation, a delegation from the Autonomous Administration and the Syrian Democratic Council (SDC) met with French President Emmanuel Macron at the Elysee Palace, in the capital, Paris.
The delegation included the head of the Executive Board of SDC Ilham Ahmed, the co-chair of the Executive Council of the Autonomous Administration Berivan Khalid, and the co-chair of the Executive Council of the Civil Administration in Deir ez-Zor Ghassan al-Yousef.
Earlier, Berivan Khalid told North Press that the meeting dealt with the political, economic, security, and military situation in northeastern Syria.
Khalid stated at the time that the French presidency “stressed its continued support for the AANES especially in the military field, to achieve the final defeat of the Islamic State (ISIS), as well as in the economic field.
The Autonomous Administration statement added that the regime’s Foreign Ministry’s talk about the Autonomous Administration project, is an unrealistic reading of the general situation in Syria and a clear adherence to the mentality of exclusion and denial.
On Sunday, activists on social media launched a hashtag campaign calling for international recognition of the Autonomous Administration, following the publication of the hashtag by the Commander-in-Chief of the Syrian Democratic Forces, Mazloum Abdi.
In its statement, the Autonomous Administration said that its project “preserved the unity of our society and defeated ISIS, as well as developed a qualitative democratic model, which is the most representative of the Syrian need and has not been drawn into private or conspiratorial agendas at the expense of the Syrian people.”