Many states try to avoid official contact with the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES) in order not to anger Turkey. Sweden, for example, has terminated its formerly good relations with AANES in order to be able to join NATO. But the Syrian government in Damascus also reacts angrily to visits by foreign delegations to the self-governing region. The state news agency SANA said on Tuesday that Syria "strongly condemns the illegitimate entry of a delegation from the French Foreign Ministry into Syrian territory". It said that “the French delegation’s meeting with the separatist organizations constitutes a flagrant violation of Syria’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, and reveals the destructive role and the extreme French hostility to Syria, and France’s full partnership in aggression against Syria through its support for terrorist groups and separatist militias.”

The AANES External Relations Department released a statement in response, saying the following:

"On 18 July, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a statement to the government in Damascus about the visit of a French delegation to northern and eastern Syria. This ministry has also previously published information that has nothing to do with reality.

As the Department for External Relations of the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria, we reject the accusations mentioned in this statement. We are not pursuing a separatist project. Our project is Syrian-national, it serves the unity of Syria and the unity of its people.

As for the need to fight terrorism in cooperation with the government in Damascus, what has been reported is a clear distortion of the facts. Because our people have resisted terrorism, and they have done so with all their strength. The successes they have achieved are Syrian successes. The world is witnessing the victories that our people and the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) have achieved against terrorism in cooperation with the international anti-ISIS coalition. No one can deny this. We have liberated large parts of Syria from terrorism and saved them from separatism and the development of sectarian and ethnic conflicts, from the Turkish border to Deir ez-Zor and the Iraqi border to Raqqa and Manbij.

We also note that the meeting with the French delegation took place within the framework of our efforts to achieve stability and our will to fulfil our Syrian duty. We reiterate that the statements of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs aim to affect our activities and efforts in communicating with all actors with whom we want to achieve stability and security in Syria.

Damascus should open itself to serious and effective dialogue. The positions that have emerged today and also at previous times do not serve the solution in Syria. We call on Damascus to abandon this rhetoric, to change the reality of the situation in Syria and to come out of the stalemate, which has not yet brought any development towards a national solution and consensus in Syria."