AMUDA, Syria — Interior Minister of Syria’s Jazeera canton Kanaan Barakat, who hails from the city of Girke Lege in Hasakah governorate 50 kilometers (30 miles) from Qamishli, worked as a lawyer until the proclamation of the democratic autonomous administration on Jan. 21, 2014, in northern and northeastern Syria, known as Rojava, the Kurdish region of Syria.
Appointed in May 2014 as head of Jazeera canton’s interior committee, which is a position equivalent to that of an interior minister, Barakat is in charge of security, police and transportation in Jazeera canton. Al-Monitor interviewed Barakat about the recent developments in the Kurdish region of Syria.