MOSCOW: A senior adviser to Syrian President Bashar Assad on Tuesday flatly rejected the idea of giving Syrian Kurds a measure of autonomy, saying such a move would open the door to the partition of the country.
The Kurdish-led authority that runs much of north and east Syria has presented a road map for a deal with Assad in recent meetings with his key ally Russia.
The Kurds want to safeguard their autonomous region inside a decentralized state when U.S. troops currently backing them pull out. They also hope a deal with Damascus would dissuade neighboring Turkey from attacking them.
But when asked Tuesday if Damascus was willing to do a deal that would hand the Kurds some measure of autonomy, Bouthaina Shaaban, a senior adviser to Assad, flatly rejected the suggestion.
"Autonomy means the partition of Syria. We have no way to partition Syria," she told Reuters on the sidelines of a Middle East conference in Moscow organized by the Valdai Discussion Club.
"Syria is a country that is a melting pot for all people and all people are equal in front of Syrian law and in front of the Syrian constitution," she added, calling the Kurds "a precious and very important part of the Syrian people".