QAMISHLI: Syria’s foreign minister and a senior official in the country’s Kurdish administration have met in Damascus, sources from both sides told AFP on Tuesday, days after the government boycotted talks in France.
Damascus had said it would not participate in the Paris talks after the Kurds hosted a meeting last week involving Syria’s Druze and Alawite minority communities, which have been subjected to sectarian violence in recent months.
The event called for a decentralized state — a move repeatedly rejected by Syria’s new authorities — and was effectively the first meeting to bring together representatives of several communities opposed to the approach and vision of governance of Syria’s new authorities.
Elham Ahmad, a senior official in the Kurdish administration in Syria’s northeast, met Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad Al-Shaibani “on Monday evening upon the request of the Damascus government,” a Kurdish official told AFP, requesting anonymity.
A Syrian government source, also requesting anonymity, confirmed to AFP that the Damascus meeting took place, without providing further details.
