00:00Vladimir, let me come back to you just for a response to what Omer has been saying there.
00:05He's saying that a whole year has been lost, laying blame squarely on the Kurdish side,
00:11that they didn't implement their end of the deal,
00:13and that now there is a very stark choice ahead of them.
00:17What do you make of that assessment?
00:22Well, I mean, the previous agreement was a bit vague.
00:25That was one of the reasons there were so many disagreements.
00:28Another point is that the agreement was like eight points,
00:31and one of them also included some form of constitutional recognition of Kurds.
00:36And you saw that the Syrian president recently declared such a decree.
00:41So this kind of came a bit late.
00:42This has been one year until he came with such a decree.
00:46So I think there is many disagreements between both sides,
00:51but it's not just square to be blamed on the SDF side,
00:55because also Damascus, there were maybe eight points of this thing that were not implemented.
01:03So I think that was one of the biggest issues.
01:06I think also one of the issues is that the agreement was just understood as a military integration agreement,
01:11but it's actually more complicated.
01:13It's about the return of IDPs and refugees and about confronting hate speech,
01:19about combatting Assad remnants, fighting ISIS,
01:25and especially constitutional agreements,
01:28some form of constitutional guarantees for Kurdish rights,
01:32which the Syrian president recently has announced.
01:35Although, of course, the Kurdish majority of this Kurdish political party,
01:39so I'm not talking just about the SDF to prefer some form of autonomy.
01:43They are hoping with this agreement that they could still have some form of a special status
01:48for Francis Kobani and for parts of Hasakah.
01:52But, of course, Syria says it's one Syria and one united Syria,
01:56so I'm not sure if they're going to agree with that.
01:58But the previous agreement that was announced a few days ago,
02:03after which the fighting broke down again,
02:05it was also mentioning some form of a special status.
02:07So, there's a hope that there could be some form of a demilitarized zone
02:12in Francis Kobani and also in Hasakah,
02:16and that locals will join the internal security forces,
02:20and that peace will be basically implemented,
02:23and that we will not see the same violence
02:27with what we saw in Sweden or in the coast with the Druze.
02:34Less than in the past.
02:35I think also there's a Syrian army,
02:39they have made changes.
02:42So, we have to see now how this is implemented,
02:44but among the Kurdish population,
02:46there's still a lot of fear for human rights violations,
02:49and they don't really trust what is going on.
02:51So, we'll see now,
02:53it's all about the coordination so it's not a law.
03:09So, thanks.
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