Syrian stability incomplete without Kurdish representation: British MP

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Decentralization is the optimal solution for Syria and the country cannot achieve stability without Kurdish representation in the new administration, a British Labour MP said on Tuesday.

“We do want to see stability and we do want to see the country going towards democratization. And for me personally, I feel that that cannot happen unless the Kurdish voices are represented within any administration going forward,” Feryal Clark, MP and Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for AI and Digital Government, told Rudaw. 

Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), formerly an al-Qaeda affiliate, led a coalition of forces in a swift and unexpected offensive that toppled Bashar al-Assad's regime last month.

The successive British governments have “always seen the importance of the relationship with the Kurdish people,” Clark added.

Clark is of Kurdish origin. 

She stressed the fact that it is “incredibly important” that the Syrian Kurds are included in “any democratic process that starts developing in the region.”

But many Syrians and foreign powers are worried that the HTS may impose strict Islamic rule and threaten minority groups such as Kurds, Druze, Christians, and Alawites.

Syria’s new administration is also against federalism and decentralization.

The Syrian people have greatly under Assad's regime, including the Kurds in northeast Syria (Rojava), she said.

She further highlighted the Kurds’ role in defeating the Islamic State (ISIS). 

ISIS rose to power and seized swathes of Iraqi and Syrian land amid a brazen offensive in 2014, declaring a so-called “caliphate”. 

Though the jihadists no longer control any territory, they continue to pose a security risk by carrying out kidnappings, hit-and-run attacks, and bombings, and the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), who control Rojava, conduct frequent operations against the group.