Disir
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- Sep 30, 2011
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Deputy foreign minister Faisal Mekdad also said the Syrian government must eventually assert control over Kurdish-led areas, which until now Damascus has tolerated in an uneasy relationship.
"[The elections] will be a joke. Syria will never ever allow any part of its territory to be separated," Mekdad said in Damascus in an interview with Reuters and the BBC.
At the end of July the Kurdish-led administration there set dates between late summer and January for local council and regional assembly elections in a move apparently aimed at consolidating its growing autonomy.
The Kurdish groups have carved out self-governing regions since early in the six-year conflict, but they say they are not seeking independence from Damascus.
We believe that in the north of Syria we have Syrian citizens who will not endanger the situation in the country or move ahead to any manifestation of dividing Syria. Those who will move in those directions know what price they have to pay," Mekdad said.
When asked if the Syrian government was willing to take back control of areas now controlled by Kurdish groups he said: "It is not a matter of 'willing' it is a matter of 'must'."
"The territorial integrity of Syria will never be under dispute," he said.
Elections in Kurdish-led areas will not divide Syria: minister
I don't know how anyone could think otherwise at this point.
"[The elections] will be a joke. Syria will never ever allow any part of its territory to be separated," Mekdad said in Damascus in an interview with Reuters and the BBC.
At the end of July the Kurdish-led administration there set dates between late summer and January for local council and regional assembly elections in a move apparently aimed at consolidating its growing autonomy.
The Kurdish groups have carved out self-governing regions since early in the six-year conflict, but they say they are not seeking independence from Damascus.
We believe that in the north of Syria we have Syrian citizens who will not endanger the situation in the country or move ahead to any manifestation of dividing Syria. Those who will move in those directions know what price they have to pay," Mekdad said.
When asked if the Syrian government was willing to take back control of areas now controlled by Kurdish groups he said: "It is not a matter of 'willing' it is a matter of 'must'."
"The territorial integrity of Syria will never be under dispute," he said.
Elections in Kurdish-led areas will not divide Syria: minister
I don't know how anyone could think otherwise at this point.
