Syrian official says government withdrawing from Paris talks on integrating Kurds

DAMASCUS, Syria — A Syrian government official says that authorities would not participate in planned talks in Paris on integrating the Kurdish semi-autonomous administration into the Syrian state and demanded that future negotiations be held in Damascus.

The move came a day after the Kurdish administration, which controls swathes of the north and northeast, held a conference involving several Syrian minority communities, the first such event since Islamists overthrew longtime ruler Bashar al-Assad in December.

Participants included the head of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) Mazloum Abdi, who on March 10 signed a deal with Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa to integrate the Kurds’ civil and military institutions into the state.

The conference’s final statement called for “a democratic constitution that… establishes a decentralized state,” guaranteeing the participation of all components of Syrian society.

Damascus has previously rejected calls for decentralization.

“This conference was a blow to current negotiating efforts, and based on this, [the government] will not participate in any meetings scheduled in Paris,” state news agency SANA quotes an unidentified government official as saying.

The government “calls on international mediators to move all negotiations to Damascus, as this is the legitimate, national location for dialogue among Syrians,” the official says.

The government will not “sit at the negotiating table with any party that seeks to revive the era of the former regime under any cover,” the official tells SANA, condemning the hosting of “separatist figures involved in hostile acts.”

“The government sees the conference as an attempt to internationalize Syrian affairs” and invite foreign interference, the official adds.