ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - At a unity conference in Hasaka, northeast Syria (Rojava) on Friday, more than 400 representatives from Syrian minority communities including Kurds, Druze, Alawites, and Christians called for changes to the country’s transitional constitution.
In a final statement, conference participants said they “see that the current constitutional declaration does not meet the Syrian people's aspirations for freedom and human dignity,” adding that the charter “requires reconsideration to ensure broader participation and fair representation.”
Syria’s minority communities have concerns about their future in the country and decisions made by interim President Ahmad al-Sharaa and his Islamist-led government.
In mid-March, Sharaa approved a 53-article constitutional declaration granting himself sweeping powers, including the authority to appoint one-third of the legislature and all judges of the constitutional court - the only institution capable of holding him accountable. In addition, 70 of the 210 seats in the parliament will be appointed by presidential decree. Critics have warned the interim constitution could entrench authoritarianism and marginalize minority communities.
In a speech at the start of the conference, Elham Ahmad, co-chair of foreign relations in the Kurdish-led Democratic Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (DAANES), said the event will form a basis on which to “reformulate the Syrian state on just foundations based on equality in citizenship, an inclusive non-exclusionary identity, and accountable authority, balanced in rights and duties.”
“A new Syria cannot be built without recognizing the rights of every component and without ensuring their active participation in shaping the future,” Ahmad said.
On Wednesday, the opposition Kurdish National Council (ENKS/KNC) called on the Syrian transitional government to enter into “serious and responsible” dialogue with a joint Kurdish delegation. The delegation was formed following a landmark pan-Kurdish conference in Qamishli in April that brought together rival Kurdish parties, including the ruling Democratic Union Party (PYD) and ENKS, to present a united front in negotiations over Rojava’s future.
Kurdish leaders have long pushed for a decentralized system in Syria. Damascus condemned the April conference at the time, calling it a separatist initiative.
Ahmad said she hoped Friday’s conference will be “a step toward a new Syria that strives for all its children without discrimination, and restores the moral meaning to politics after a long time of authoritarianism and denial."
DAANES Executive Council co-chair Hussein Othman also addressed the conference and said there needs to be intense efforts to "reject sectarianism and racism, confront all attempts to sow discord and divisions, and work together to build a Syrian homeland that accommodates everyone.”
Hundreds of Alawites and Druze have been killed in clashes with state-aligned forces since Sharaa’s government came into power. Tensions are now high between Kurdish forces and the interim government. On Monday, clashes erupted between the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), the de facto army of Rojava, and Damascus-affiliated factions, whom the SDF accused of attacking their positions. A day earlier, both sides traded blame over an incident in Manbij city that reportedly injured four Syrian government troops and three civilians.
In a video message, Hikmat al-Hajari, the spiritual leader of Syria's Druze community, told the conference that it “is not just a political meeting but a call to the national conscience and a response to the cry of a people exhausted by wars and marginalization.”
Hajari hails from the Druze-majority province of Suwayda, where renewed clashes on Sunday left two dead following a fragile two-week ceasefire. The violence began on July 13 between Druze fighters and Bedouin tribes and escalated with the involvement of Syrian government forces and Israeli airstrikes in support of the Druze. A United States-brokered ceasefire came into effect on July 18.
According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, more than 1,400 people have been killed in the conflict. The United Nations estimates around 175,000 people have been displaced.
"We, the sons of the Druze Unitarian community, stand alongside our brothers from the Kurds, Arabs, Syriacs, Yazidis, Turkmen, Circassians and other components to affirm that diversity is not a threat but a treasure that enhances our unity,” Hajari said.
He has been an outspoken critic of Damascus’ constitutional declaration and has called Syrian authorities “extremist in every sense of the word.”
The Kurdish-led Rojava administration has engaged in dialogue with Syria’s interim government regarding the integration of its civil and military institutions into state structures. Their discussions are about implementing a March 10 agreement signed between Sharaa and SDF chief Mazloum Abdi. Talks, however, have stalled and France has now offered to mediate.
Regarding the contents of the March agreement, the concluding statement said that conference attendees “affirmed commitment to them as constructive steps toward comprehensive national consensus.”
Updated at 3:20 pm.