Kurds Officially Declare Federal System in Northern Syria

Syrian Kurds and their allies announced the formation of a federal system in the areas under their control in northern Syria on Thursday, March 18, an action that has faced criticism from the regime of Bashar al-Assad and other armed opposition groups. According to the German news agency, a Kurdish official reported that the Democratic Union Party and other leaders of Kurdish ethnic and religious groups confirmed the establishment of a federal system to govern Kurdish regions during a meeting in 'Rmeilan' located in the northern Hasakah province of Syria. Idris Nasan stated without providing details that 'this decision was approved by a majority vote.' The French news agency also reported that 150 Kurdish, Arab, Assyrian, and other groups reached an agreement to form a 'federal system' to unite the areas under Kurdish control, which includes several Syrian provinces. Aldar Khalili, a member of the committee announcing the federal system, stated, 'We agreed on the formation of a federal system in Rojava (three Kurdish cantons) and northern Syria.' Sihanouk Debo from the Democratic Union Party also announced that the participating delegations in the Kurdish meeting approved this plan. The Syrian Kurds currently administer a system based on three 'autonomous regions' in northern Syria, which have their own police force and independent schools. The three Kurdish cantons are located along the Syrian border with Turkey and are known as 'Afrin' and 'Kobani,' both in Aleppo province, and 'Jazira' in Hasakah province. The Syrian government and its opponents have opposed this action in an unwritten coalition. The official Syrian news agency, SANA, quoted an unnamed official from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs stating that 'any declaration of a federal system is worthless and has no legal, political, social, or economic basis.' Turkey, which has a large Kurdish minority, is also one of the main opponents of establishing a federal system in northern Syria. Ankara even refused to allow Kurdish representatives to participate in the peace talks in Geneva, Switzerland. The United States, a major supporter of Syrian Kurdish groups, also announced on Wednesday that it would not recognize the establishment of a federal system in northern Syria by the Kurds. According to the 'Hawar News' agency, representatives at the Rmeilan meeting appointed a Kurdish woman named Hediye Yusuf and an Arab man named Mansour Asloom as the heads of their assembly. A 13-member council is expected to be formed within six months to govern this federal system. The announcement of the federal system in northern Syria has led to celebrations in the streets of Ras al-Ain in northern Syria.