U.S. envoy for Syria Tom Barrack has said that the YPG-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) has been “slow” in negotiation with the Syrian government over an integration deal, noting that federalism “does not” work in Syria.
“I think SDF has been slow in accepting and negotiating and moving towards that, and my advice to them is to speed that,” said Barrack, who also serves as U.S. ambassador to Türkiye.
“There is only one road and that road is to Damascus.”
His remarks came after Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa on July 9 met with SDF leader Mazloum Abdi in in the presence of Barrack and a French representative to discuss stalled efforts to integrate the group-held region into the Syrian state.
Sharaa and SDF head Mazloum Abdi first struck an accord for integration in March with U.S. backing, but its implementation has been held up by differences between the two parties.
The YPG-led SDF, which control Syria’s north, have demanded a decentralized system of governance, which the new authorities in Damascus have rejected.
“The difficulty is, in all of these countries, what we’ve learned is federalism doesn’t work. You can’t have independent non-nation states within a nation,”
The envoy further hailed the Damascus administration for being “incredibly enthusiastic in trying to onboard the SDF.”
Even after July 9 meeting, there are still significant differences between the sides and they remain at odds over plans on merging their forces, Barrack told the Associated Press in another interview on the same day.
“I don’t think there’s a breakthrough,” Barrack said. “I think these things happen in baby steps, because it’s built on trust, commitment and understanding.”
He added that “for two parties that have been apart for a while and maybe an adversarial relationship for a while, they have to build that trust step by step.”
A major sticking point has been whether the SDF would remain as a cohesive unit in the new army — which the Syrian Kurds are pushing for — or whether the force would be dissolved and its members individually absorbed into the new military.
Barrack said that is still “a big issue” between the two sides.
Source: Hurriyet
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