Russia invites Syrian Kurds to congress of Syrian ethnic groups: Kurdish official

Residents welcome fighters in Qamishlo, the Kurds’ biggest city in Syria. (AFP)

BEIRUT: Russia has invited the Kurdish-led authorities in northern Syria to its proposed congress of Syria’s various ethnic groups, a senior Kurdish official told Reuters on Tuesday.
Such a congress would focus on seeking “compromise solutions toward the political settlement” of Syria’s conflict, a Russian negotiator on Syria said earlier this week.
“We are studying the issue and our stance has been positive so far,” said Badran Jia Kurd, an adviser to the administration that governs Kurdish-led autonomous regions of northern Syria.
They received the official invitation during meetings with Russian officials in northern Syria last month, he said.
Moscow, a key ally of the Damascus government, may host a congress in mid-November to bring together Syria’s ethnic groups and work on a new constitution, Russian news agency RIA said on Monday.
It remains unclear which other groups or combatants in Syria’s multi-sided war would take part in the congress.
The congress, which Russian President Vladimir Putin first mentioned this month, may take place at Russia’s Black Sea resort of Sochi, RIA said.
Russia’s Hmeymim air base in Syria also might be used, Alexander Lavrentyev, a senior Russian negotiator on Syria said on Monday.
The proposal has received backing from the United Nations, Lavrentyev told reporters in Kazakhstan.