MOSCOW (Sputnik) — Russia will continue to insist on the inclusion of Kurds in the intra-Syrian talks, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Wednesday.
"We continue to insist on the inclusion of the Syrian Kurds in the negotiations on the future of their country in full compliance with 2254 UN Security Council resolution on the roadmap of the Syrian settlement," Lavrov said at the opening of the fifth Moscow Conference on International Security.
Kurds are Syria's largest ethnic minority. The Kurdish population also lives in Turkey, Iran, and Iraq. Syrian Kurds say they want to be part of Syria and do not strive for independence, yet have previously called for more autonomy. In March, they declared a federal region in northern Syria. The Syrian government responded by saying that the Kurds' unilateral decision had no legal power.
