ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Kurds in Syria do not seek the division of the country but rather want their rights safeguarded through “decentralization and democracy,” an official from northeast Syria (Rojava) said on Monday.
“The division of Syria is not on the agenda. They can run the administration together in Syria,” Aras Jumaa, media head of the Rojava-based Green Democratic Party, told Rudaw's Dildar Harki. “The important thing is that decentralization and democracy can serve the people of Syria.”
Rojava’s ruling Democratic Union Party (PYD) and the opposition Kurdish National Council (KNC/ENKS) held a meeting in Qamishli on Tuesday with mediation by Mazloum Abdi, commander-in-chief of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) and American officials. The two sides are working to set aside their long-held grievances and agree on a unified stance to strengthen the Kurdish voice in the new Syria.
Two ENKS officials on Friday told Rudaw that Kurdish ruling and opposition parties in Rojava have agreed on a list of demands, which includes federalism, that will be presented to Damascus later this month.
“The agreement must be announced in the near future and the unity of Kurds must be achieved,” Jumaa stressed, about ongoing talks between Kurdish ruling and opposition parties aimed at reaching a compromise for unity.
The PYD and ENKS have been bitter rivals for years and previous attempts at reconciliation have failed.
He also criticized Syria’s interim constitution as exclusionary, stating that Kurds must be included in the new constitution – a goal that Kurdish political parties are working towards.
The interim constitution adopted by the transitional government in Damascus cements authoritarian rule and has drawn criticism from Syria’s minority communities who have demanded it be re-written.
Sulaimani Oso, a member of ENKS leadership who attended the meeting with the PYD, told Rudaw English on Tuesday that “we will meet again after Newroz celebrations” to form a joint committee that will represent all Kurds in talks with the new authority in Damascus.
The PYD and ENKS signed an agreement, mediated by Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) leader Masoud Barzani, in the Kurdistan Region’s Duhok province in 2015 to end tensions and share power in Rojava. However, the deal was never implemented and each side blamed the other for its failure. Both sides have engaged in a war of words, accusing each other of treason.
The new talks were initiated after the fall of the Bashar al-Assad regime and increasing threats to the Kurdish enclave.
