Important political, diplomatic turning points in North Syrian during 2018

AHMED MOHAMMED / NEWS DESK

During the panorama of 2018, we offer the most important turning points and events in the north and east of Syria in terms of the political organization and diplomatic movement in the framework of efforts to resolve the crisis in Syria, including,

Restructuring MSD at its third conference

On 16 July, 2018, the Syrian Democratic Council held its third conference, resulting in several organizational amendments, including the election of Amina Omer and Riyad Derar as co-chairs, the election of 41 members and a female member for the Presidential Council. The conference included in several decisions, the most important of which were that the participants agreed on a decentralized Syria, the formation of coordinating committees for the administration of the Syrian north regions, as well as the formation of an Executive Body to manage the council.

Launching the negotiations between MSD and the Syrian regime

At the request of the regime and on the principle of resolving the Syrian crisis through the Syrian-Syrian dialogue which MSD believes in without conditions, negotiations between the Syrian regime and MSD started on 26 August, 2018, and they resulted in the formation of various committees to develop the dialogue between the two sides.

The announcement of the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria

The Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria was formed on September 6, 2018 after a meeting held by MSD in Ain Issa, in which the Civil and Autonomous Administrations and local councils in the north and east of Syria participated, basing on decisions made at the last conference of the council on 16 July of the same year. After its first constitutional meeting, it was able to form nine main committees, bringing together the seven committees in the regions of North Syria.

MSD seeks to unite the opposition's ranks through the Syrian-Syrian dialogue

In the framework of the Syrian-Syrian dialogue, the Syrian Democratic Council held two separate forums on 18^th July and 27^th November, 2018 in an attempt to unite the opposition's ranks and unify the political visions to resolve the Syrian crisis. The first forum resulted in the formation of a follow-up committee to coordinate and communicate with all national forces to reach future meetings that would serve the project of resolving the Syrian crisis. The second forum resulted in decisions and the most important were the need for a political solution in a manner that would ensure the participation of all Syrians in the constitutional committee and the political process, and the exit of the Turkish occupation and its mercenaries from the Syrian territories.

Afrin is the victim of foreign political interests in Syria, and the work at all levels to restore it

In January 20^th, 2018, it has been shown the Russian-Turkish agreement on Afrin and the extent of coordination between the two sides according to deals and concessions from Turkey in the service of Russia and the regime to clean the Syrian south and center regions from the opposition factions and the mercenaries backed by it in exchange for the occupation of Afrin for Russia to delay the solution in Syria which led to the occupation of the Turkish army and its mercenaries to Afrin city on March 18^th.

On 18^th and 21^st June, Afrin Liberation Conference was held, in which it was emphasized to escalate resistance and struggle at various political, diplomatic, popular and military levels through the formation of committees at home, and to support the resistance of fighters deployed throughout Afrin region.

To highlight the violations of the Turkish occupation against Afrin people and geography, the International Forum on Ethnic Cleansing and Demographic Change in Afrin held on December 2^nd to 4^th, during which the participants reached a number of recommendations and decisions, and the most important of which were the call for imposing an air embargo on the regions of the Syrian north, the establishment of a follow-up committee to follow the decisions and recommendations of the Forum of various specialties and nationalities, the establishment of a center to document the Turkish violations and practices in Afrin, the formation of a legal committee to bring cases before the competent international courts and to document the violations to the international human rights organizations.

New structure for TEV-DEM's system to support and strengthen the administration more

On 27^th August, 2018, the third conference of the Democratic Society Movement was held with the participation of 500 members of TEV-DEM and representatives of civil councils, political parties, political and social organizations in Rojava and north-east of Syria, and a joint presidency and 64 members for the Administrative Council were elected, and during a year, 3 new offices were opened for it. The conference resulted in allocating the work of the Movement in organizing all segments of the society through civil society institutions.

Announcement of the formation of the Future Syria Party

On March 27, 2018, the constitutional conference of the Future Syria Party was held in al-Raqqa city, during which Ibrahim al-Qaftan was elected to be the head of the party and Havrin Khalaf was appointed as the Secretary-General of the Party. A male member and another female one were elected as a General Council of the party from all regions of Syria. During 2018, eight branches for it were opened in various areas of the Syrian north.

The convening of the 2^nd General Syriac Union Conference

The Syriac Union Party held its second general conference on 1^st June, 2018, during which the necessity of relying on the Syrian people to resolve the Syrian crisis was confirmed. It was restructured by the election of 21 members as the party's council in addition to the election of the co-chair for the party.

The expansion of the diplomatic space

The Syrian north witnessed in 2018 intensive diplomatic visits compared to the previous years at the international and regional levels. Most of the visits focused on learning about the current system in the north of Syria, how work is ongoing in the circumstances of what Syria is witnessing of battles, in addition to following up the situation of the refugees escaped the areas of the Syrian regime and the Turkish occupation and its mercenaries to the areas of the Autonomous Administration in the north and east of Syria, and we will mention the most important of them:

The visit of a British delegation consisted of parliamentarians on 4^th January, 2018, and it lasted for a week.

The visit of a representative of the French Foreign Ministry "Tamim al-Zawi" on 17^th January and 13^th July, 2018, and his visits continue periodically through the International Coalition.

The visit of a delegation of the Parliament of Kurdistan Region of Iraq on 15^th February, 2018, and it lasted for 5 days.

 The visit of the former US Ambassador Peter Calbris on 10^th April, 2018.

   The visit of an Italian delegation of political activists on 23^rd May, 2018 which lasted for 16 days.

The visit of a delegation of German parliamentarians on 28^th May, 2018 that lasted for five days.

The visit of the delegation of the Friendship Organization between the Kurds and the Protons on 14^th June, 2018, and it lasted for 3 days.

 The visit of the US State Department's representative William Robak on 7^th August, 2018 which is a regular visit through the International Coalition to Fight Daesh.

 The visit of a delegation from the European-French Directory Foundation on 1^stOctober, 2018, and it lasted for a week.

The visit of a delegation of Belgian doctors on 16^th October 2018, and it continued for a week.

The visit of the US representatives to the International Coalition William Robak and Max Martin on 7^th November, 2018.

The visit of a delegation from the International Red Cross on 20^th November and 6^th December 2018, and it was consisted of Marian Kasr, the director of the Syrian Red Cross and members of the Cross, each of whom lasted for one day.

The visit of the US Congressman Thomas Alexander Garrett with members of the International Burma Liberal Organization on 23^rd November, 2018, and it lasted for a week.

The visit of Bernard Kouchner, the former French Prime Minister on 1^st December, 2018, and it lasted for 3 days.

On 29^th March, 2018, a delegation of the Autonomous Administration in North Syria met with the French President Emmanuel Macaron and the French Foreign Ministry.

D.H

ANHA