ENKS leader and Syriac Orthodox bishop advocate for a civil, inclusive Syria

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - The head of the Kurdish National Council (ENKS/KNC) on Monday visited the Syriac Orthodox Bishop of northeast Syria’s (Rojava) Hasakah province to discuss Syria’s path forward.

"The future Syria must be civil, ethnically and religiously diverse, with equal respect for all religions,” Mohammed Ismail, head of the ENKS negotiation committee, said in a statement.

Ismail emphasized “the need to preserve coexistence and civil peace among the region’s diverse components,” highlighting “that these components complement each other and need each other.”

The ENKS is an umbrella group of Kurdish opposition parties in northeast Syria (Rojava). They have been in constant rivalry with the ruling Democratic Union Party (PYD) over influence in Rojava, and accuse the latter of having ties with the PKK.

Syriac Orthodox Bishop Mar Maurice Amsih, on Monday spoke about the historical ties between the Syriac and Kurdish peoples. He emphasized “the need for a civil state that accommodates all of Syria’s [ethnic and religious] components,” adding that the Syriac Orthodox and the Kurds “have lived in brotherhood for centuries, and repeated attempts to sow strife between us have failed.”

It is worth noting that EU agencies have in recent years reported that Syria’s Christian population has dwindled to just a quarter of its original number of two million since the start of the civil war over a decade ago.

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