Syria rejects Kurds' call for decentralisation

The Syrian presidency rejected on Sunday a Kurdish call for a decentralised state, warning against attempts at separatism or federalism by the minority group.

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“We reject clearly any attempt to impose a separatist reality or to create separate entities under the cover of federalism... without a national consensus,” the presidency said in a statement in which it also condemned "the recent activities and declarations” of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces that “call for federalism.”

Syria’s new rulers seek to establish government control over the entire country since they ousted Assad in December after more than 13 years of civil war.

Marginalised and repressed during decades of Assad family rule, Kurdish-led forces took advantage of the civil war to establish de facto autonomy in the north and northeast. Syria's new government vision puts into question the status of that authority.