"The way Assad speaks of federalism or any other shape or form of the state is still completely in a top-down approach. He decides and implements the definition of how Syria should look like. But it is the decision of the people and should be done in a democratic consultative process," Bassma Kodmani said.
The federalization bid has been initiated by the Kurdish community in Syria against a background of the last round of the intra-Syrian talks in Geneva.
At the constituent conference in the Hasakah province on March 17, 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. Some 200 delegates from Syria’s north, inhabited by Kurds, attended the conference. It is expected that the "federation" would unite separated national communities as well as their militias to counter Islamic State and Nusra Front militants (outlawed in Russia.)
