Shaibani (shown above) met with Barzani on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference [Sameer Al-Doumy/AFP via Getty]
The President of Iraq’s Kurdistan Region, Nechirvan Barzani, has urged Damascus’s new authorities to protect Syria’s Kurds, in a meeting with Syria’s Interim Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shaibani.
The meeting took place on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference in Germany, but it was not clear if they met Friday or Saturday.
The two reportedly discussed political and security developments in Syria and neighbouring Iraq and how to enhance regional stability, as well as the need to protect the rights of Syria’s different communities and ensure their participation in the country’s future after more than 13 years of war.
Barzani stressed to Shaibani the importance of protecting the rights of the Kurdish people and other communities in Syria, adding that problems can be solved through dialogue and understanding.
For his part, Shaibani stressed Syria’s commitment to achieving stability and creating the appropriate conditions for national dialogue, stressing Syria’s desire to strengthen its relations with Iraq and its autonomous Kurdish region and enhance cooperation.
There have been some cases of sectarian attacks – particularly against the Alawi minority, which Bashar al-Assad belonged to – following the rebel ouster of Assad last December, with members of minority communities uncertain about their future.
Syria’s Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) who control most of northeastern Syria, have also refused to give up their hold of the region or integrate into the new administration.
On Thursday, organisers said the conference to chart Syria’s political future will include all segments of Syrian society except for the Kurdish-led administration in the northeast and Assad loyalists.
Mazloum Abdi, who commands the SDF, has called for a secular, civil and decentralised state in post-Assad Syria, but many of his demands are unacceptable to the Islamist-led authorities in Damascus.
The SDF has also refused to hand over its weapons as part of efforts by the transitional government to unify all armed groups and disband militias.
Syrians remain deeply divided over what type of political governance must be established.
Assad’s forces brutally cracked down on pro-democracy protests in 2011, leading to a multi-faceted conflict that killed over half a million people and displaced half of the country’s pre-war population, mostly as a result of Assad regime bombing of civilian areas.
