Kurdish PYD Group Declares Federal Region in Syria

A file photo of the pro-Kurdish protests where flags of the so-called Rojava, the northern Syrian region where Kurdish group PYD declared independence on March 17, 2016. Photo: EPA/BGNES

The Democratic Union Party (PYD) of Syria has proclaimed the creation of a "federal democratic system" in the north of Syria, Al Jazeera has said.

The Thursday announcement follows meetings earlier this week involving members of the Kurdish, Arab, Assyrian and other communities in the region.

The Syrian National Coalition does not accept what it calls a "unilateral" declaration the declaration, which was also dismissed by the government in Damascus.

Syrian authorities said in a statement that "creating a union or a federal system... contradicts the Syrian constitution and all the national concepts and international resolutions".

Earlier reports suggested the Kurdistan Regional Government in Iraq had closed the border with Syria in the wake of the declaration.

The region, known to Kurds as Rojava, had been de facto autonomous since 2013, amid the chaos of the Syrian civil war.

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