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Calls for international recognition of semi-autonomous Kurdish enclave from controversial US religious rights body raise eyebrows
YPJ soldiers in Syria hold up a painting of PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan [Kurdish Struggle / Creative Commons]

KURDISH officials have endorsed calls for official international recognition of its semi-autonomous region in northern Syria from the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF).

Its chair, the conservative Nadine Maenza, made the remarks during a three-day tour of the Autonomous Area of North East Syria (AANES) which ended on Friday.

She said the AANES should be exempted from the US Caesar sanctions on Syria, calling for the body to be recognised by the international community as a local government while praising its progressive politics on gender and religious tolerance.

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