AANES rejects Syrian foreign ministry allegations

The Syrian government in Damascus has reacted strongly to visits by foreign delegations to the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES). The state news agency SANA wrote that Syria strongly condemns the illegal entry of a delegation from the French Foreign Ministry into Syrian territory. SANA added: “The meeting of the French delegation with the separatist organizations is a blatant violation of Syria’s sovereignty and territorial integrity and reveals the destructive role and extreme hostility of France towards Syria and its full partnership in the aggression against Syria through its support for terrorist groups and separatist militias.” AANES’ External Relations Department responded in a statement rejecting all allegations.

The statement opens as follows: “On 18 July, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a statement to the government in Damascus regarding the visit of a French delegation to northern and eastern Syria. This ministry has also previously published information that has nothing to do with reality”. The AANES refutes the accusations made in the Damascus statement. The Autonomous Administration declares that it does not have a separatist project and that its project is Syrian-national, that it serves the unity of Syria and the unity of its people.

The statement continues to stress the fight against ISIS: “As for the need to fight terrorism in cooperation with the government in Damascus, what has been reported is a clear distortion of the facts. Our people have resisted terrorism with all their might. The successes they have achieved are Syrian successes. The world is witnessing the victories that our people and the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) have achieved against terrorism in cooperation with the international anti-ISIS coalition. Nobody can deny this. We have liberated large parts of Syria from terrorism and saved them from separatism and the development of sectarian and ethnic conflicts, from the Turkish border to Deir ez-Zor and from the Iraqi border to Raqqa and Manbij”.

AANES notes that the meeting with the French delegation took place in the context of its efforts to achieve stability and its desire to fulfill its Syrian duty. AANES believes that the statements made by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs aim to influence its activities and efforts in communicating with all actors with whom it wants to achieve stability and security in Syria. AANES calls on Damascus to engage in serious and effective dialogue: “The positions expressed today and in previous moments do not serve the solution in Syria. We call on Damascus to abandon this rhetoric, to change the reality of the situation in Syria and to break the deadlock that has not yet led to any development towards a national solution and consensus in Syria”.