The future of Syria must be shaped without excluding any ethnicity or religion, said UN Secretary-General’s spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric on Wednesday, referring to the absence of Kurds, Druze, and other minorities from the ongoing Syrian National Dialogue in Damascus.

“All Syrians must feel included, regardless of their ethnicity or religion,” Dujarric emphasized, highlighting “the importance of inclusion in designing Syria’s future, its institutions, and its constitution,” echoing the sentiments of UN Special Envoy for Syria, Geir Pedersen.

Dujarric reiterated Pedersen’s call for “diplomatic solutions” concerning northeastern Syria, a region where Syrian Kurds control part of the territory without a formal agreement with the current authorities in Damascus, who have shown little willingness to recognize any Kurdish ‘distinctiveness.’

Since the fall of Bashar al-Assad’s regime, the Kurds of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF, de facto authorities) have been in open conflict with pro-Turkish militias, who accuse them of being pawns of Turkey’s Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).

The UN’s call today seems unlikely to resonate much in Damascus: yesterday, participants in the ‘National Dialogue’ agreed on about twenty points to be immediately addressed to initiate the transitional process, with messages directed against the de facto Kurdish government of the SDF.

They agreed to reject “any form of fragmentation and division or renunciation of any part of the homeland,” and demanded that the state monopolize arms, aiming to dissolve the numerous militias and armed groups operating in the country since the war broke out in 2011, including the powerful Kurdish militia YPG, and to form a “professional national army.”

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