LONDON: Syrian Arab Republic President Ahmad Al-Sharaa met Syrian Democratic Forces chief Mazloum Abdi and Syrian Kurdish politician Ilham Ahmad on Thursday to discuss the implementation of the Jan. 29 agreement.
The meeting took place as thousands of Kurdish residents in northeast Syria continued to apply for citizenship in the cities of Qamishli and Hasakeh, following the deal between Damascus and the SDF.
Foreign Minister Asaad Hassan al-Shaibani and presidential envoy Ziad al-Ayesh also attended the meeting, the Syrian Arab News Agency reported.
Al-Sharaa issued a decree in January restoring the citizenship of Kurds and formally recognizing their language and national holiday.
The move was part of broader efforts to improve relations with the SDF, which had signed an agreement with the government to integrate militarily and administratively under Damascus, the report said.
The agreement brought an end to weeks of clashes between the government and SDF forces. The Kurdish-led group effectively took control of northeastern Syria at the start of the civil war in 2011.
Amnesty International estimated in 2005 that between 200,000 and 360,000 Kurds were stateless, as they were the descendants of those rendered without nationality by the 1962 census.
