Syrian Kurds Heading to Moscow Stopped by Peshmerga at Iraqi Border

The delegation of the Kurdish Federation of Northern Syria, which was supposed to visit Moscow to meet with Russian politicians, was stopped at the border between the Syrian and Iraqi Kurdistan by the peshmerga forces, Syrian Kurdistan's representative office in Moscow said Tuesday.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — According to the Syrian Kurdistan representatives, the delegates were not provided with explanations over the refusal to proceed with their journey.

"The delegation of the Syrian Kurdistan, which, in particular, included Biriban Osman Hassan, co-chairman of the Kobani Canton Government, and a representative of an influential women's organization Star Union of Women, Norin Akvar, was prohibited from crossing the border of Syria and Iraq by the representatives of the Iraqi peshmerga [Iraqi Kurdish militia]," the office told RIA Novosti.

According to the representative office, in Moscow Syrian Kurds were to meet with the leadership of some of the Russian parliamentary parties to discuss the prospects of the Kurds' Federation of Northern Syria as well as take part in the round table "Women against religious extremism in the Middle East" on April 8 at Russia's lower house.

At a constituent conference in the Hasakah province on March 17, the Syrian Kurds announced the creation of a federal region in the country's north — the so-called Federal Democratic System of Rojava and Northern Syria.

Syrian President Bashar Assad said in an interview with Sputnik, published last week, that it would be impossible for Syria to exist as a federal state because the country is too small. He also claimed that the majority of the Kurds wanted to live in a united and not a federalized country.