Ibrahim al-Qaftan was elected the first leader of the Future Syria Party (FSP) in a congress attended by 800 representatives from different parts of Syria and 100 guests from Kurdish and Arab political parties and other institutions.
The Kurdish National Congress (KNC or ENKS) was not invited to the congress, Rudaw’s Rojava correspondent, Ivan Hasib, reported. A US defense official was spotted at the congress.
The FSP will “build good relations with neighboring countries – Turkey and Iraq – and their peoples on the basis of mutual interests and mutual respect,” Qaftan said in a speech closing out the congress that was held in Raqqa under the slogan “democratic, pluralistic and decentralized Syria.”
Qaftan said Syria does not have national parties that draw membership from across the diverse nationalities and religions of the country.
“At this delicate and pivotal stage, Syrian people need a progressive political party, whose objectives are restoring national unity, belief in peaceful political change through social agreement and constitution, and establishing a decentralized democracy based on the principles of pluralism, freedom of belief and expression, equality between sexes and equality of citizens in [their] rights and duties,” he said.
FSP believes that people are “free to believe, to express, to practice religious rites and to preserve national identity.”
Qaftan is an Arab originally from Manbij, according to ANHA news.
In Turkey, which considers the ruling groups in Rojava terrorist organizations with connections to the PKK, media described the FSP as an extension of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), a multi-ethnic force dominated by the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG).
Havrin Khalaf, a woman, was elected as the secretary-general of the party, which will make women’s issues a top priority.
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