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Syria's new government has taken a step toward unifying its control of the country. They made a deal with Kurdish groups. These are groups with U.S. backing who have controlled a lot of territory in the northeast of Syria. The Kurdish rebels signed a deal on Monday to merge with the Syrian army, and in return, they are promised full rights as Syrian citizens. NPR's Jane Arraf reports.
JANE ARRAF, BYLINE: For many Kurds, it was a low-key end to a decades-long dream.
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ARRAF: The commander of the Kurdish-led forces and the interim Syrian president - the Syrian flag behind them - signed a two-page document aimed at bringing the Kurdish region back under federal control. The commander, Mazloum Abdi, wore the suit of a politician rather than his military uniform. Abdi heads the SDF, the Syrian Democratic Forces. His group fought alongside U.S. forces to defeat ISIS. The Kurds broke away from Syrian regime control to create a secular, multiethnic, semiautonomous region in 2012, but they have always been under threat. The biggest threat was from Turkey, where the government has seen Kurdish aspirations as a danger to its own country.
Northeast Syria is a main oil-producing region, and it's also the traditional breadbasket in Syria. Details of the agreement, reported by Syrian Kurdish media, include sharing the Kurdish region's resources while allowing the SDF to still administer much of their territory. The United States had a big role in this. U.S. military officials have said since the fall of the regime last December that the Kurds would need to come to an agreement with Syria. The United States has 2,000 troops in the country, and it's unclear whether they will stay.
One of the main threats to the stability of this new Syria is fighting between Kurdish forces and Turkish-backed Syrian militias who helped topple the former regime.
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UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: (Non-English language spoken).
ARRAF: Turkish-backed Syria TV, close to the new Syrian government, reported that Sharaa agreed to enshrine Kurdish cultural and linguistic rights in the new constitution.
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UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: (Non-English language spoken).
ARRAF: Kurdish media controlled by the SDF said the agreement over the coming year would merge civil and military institutions within the federal system and provide joint protection against foreign groups. They said it also included cooperation in fighting ISIS. The agreement was welcomed by many Arab tribes now under Kurdish-led control but mourned by many Kurds who see it as Turkey with U.S. help, engineering the end of Kurdish self-rule in Syria.
Jane Arraf, NPR News, Damascus.
(SOUNDBITE OF JULIA KENT'S "INVITATION TO THE VOYAGE") Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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