​​​​​​​AA ... Real model applied for Syria's exit from dark tunnel -1

The stages of establishing the Administration and how it differs from other governance systemsThe 6^th of September marks the second anniversary of the establishment of the Democratic Autonomous Administration in northern and eastern Syria, after the liberation of the region from ISIS and the formation of 7 autonomous and civil administrations within it in order to unify decisions and work together to serve the peoples of the region who suffered greatly from the policies of discrimination during the rule of the Baath and so on, suffering in the crisis at the hands of mercenary groups, ISIS and Jabhet al-Nusra.

In this two-part file, we will talk about the Autonomous Administration system and its stages of establishment and organizational structure, the difference between it and the rest of the governance systems, the difficulties and challenges they faced, and the shortcomings they are suffering from.

How was it established?

The peoples' revolutions that began in the region in 2010 against the tyrannical regimes reached Syria in the spring of 2011, but this revolution was quickly diverted by external interference, especially by Turkey and Qatar, and thus the Syrian people realized that what is happening is a struggle for power between two parties, one receiving support from Sunni Muslims and the other from Shiite Muslims.

On this basis, the Kurds in Rojava took it upon themselves to lead the revolution and sought, with the rest of the Arab and Syriac, Assyrian, Armenian, Turkmen and Circassian peoples to build a democratic system that represents them all, and for this the revolution of 19^th July, 2012 came that started in Kobane.

On the first anniversary of the July 19^th Revolution, the project for interim administration for the region was proposed, which was welcomed by all segments, institutions and political parties, and on this basis, Rojava People's Council and the Kurdish National Council in Syria agreed to adopt the project and work towards its implementation, and the two councils signed on September 08, 2013 on 9 items to run the project.

On this basis, committees were formed to meet with other components in the region, including "Arabs, Syriacs, Assyrians, Chechens, Armenians, Turkmens ….." in order to launch the project, where they were met before the official announcement of the interim administration, and representatives of most of the components agreed on the principle of the project and participated in it.

But with the announcement of the first features of the democratic project, external forces began to oppose it, headed by Turkey by launching military, political and economic attacks, as the region was subjected to violent attacks by the mercenary groups affiliated with ISIS, Jabhet al-Nusra and other groups that called themselves the "Free Army" with direct instruction from Turkey.

The economic attacks represented by the imposition of a suffocating siege on the cities and regions of Rojava and the closure of the border crossings by Turkey and the Baath regime. The Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) also helped them in that, as it closed the only Semalka crossing with the region.

As for the political attacks, they were linked to the economic blockade, as many political parties, sides and movements were prevented from entering northern and eastern Syria.

After the project was about to draw its last lines, and one day before it was officially announced, some of the parties of the Kurdish National Council withdrew from it without providing a clear reason for the withdrawal. Its real goal was to thwart the project, but the project officially announced its first institutions on 12 November 2013, which was called the Constituent General Council for the Joint Interim Administration, and from it emerged a committee to follow up the completion of the project to prepare and draft various documents in a consensual manner, which continued to work until the official announcement of Democratic Autonomous Administration in the three cantons of "al-Jazeera" on January 21, 2014, and it was followed by Afrin and Kobane cantons, announcing their Autonomous Administrations in the same month, which is considered one of the most important historic steps in the Rojava Revolution.

During this meeting, the Co-Chair of the Executive Council, his two deputies and the heads of the 22 bodies swore the constitutional oath in the Democratic Autonomous Administration before the Legislative Council, which was written in the three official languages ​​in al-Jazeera canton "Kurdish, Arabic and Syriac," and the members read the oath, each in their mother tongue.

Unified administration for north and east Syria

The peoples who joined together in declaring the Autonomous Administration fought together the mercenary groups and ISIS, and the regions of northern and eastern Syria were gradually liberated from ISIS. With the liberation of each region, their peoples declared their autonomous or civil administration.

With the liberation of al-Raqqa city, which ISIS declared as the capital of its alleged caliphate, in October 2017, there were 7 civil and autonomous administrations in northern and eastern Syria in "al-Jazeera, Afrin, the Euphrates, Manbij and its countryside, al-Raqqa, al-Tabqa, Deir ez-Zor," and on this basis, the Syrian Democratic Council recognized in its third conference which was held on July 16, 2018 the need to form an administrative structure that coordinates services among the liberated areas and Democratic Autonomous Administrations in the regions of northern and eastern Syria.

The preparatory committee for the formation of the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria was formed on September 6, 2018 during a meeting that included 70 members from various administrations in northern and eastern Syria at the headquarter of the Syrian Democratic Council in Ain Issa district.

During this meeting, the Autonomous Administration was declared, which consists of the General Council of Autonomous Administration, the Executive Council, and the Council of Justice.

The General Council for the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria consists of 70 members. Siham Qaryo and Farid Atti were elected as Co-Chairs of the General Council, and the General Bureau of the Council which consists of 5 members was elected.

The General Council holds its sessions whenever needed to ratify the regulations and laws issued by the Executive Council, and discuss the problems and difficulties facing the seven departments, in addition to the problems of the people in the Autonomous Administration regions, so that the decision is considered effective after a vote on it by the majority of the members of the Council.

Abdel Hamid al-Muhbash and Berivan Khaled were assigned as Co-Chairs of the Executive Council, and its mission is to form bodies and offices of the Autonomous Administration in North and East Syria. The General Council gave confidence to the bodies and offices formed on October 3, 2018, and whose internal regulations ratified later through special sessions.

The Executive Council includes within its organizational structure 10 bodies, 7 offices and 1 department, which are as follows:

Bodies: "Economy and Agriculture, Health and Environment, Finance, Education, Interior, Social Affairs and Labor, Woman, Culture, Youth and Sports, and Local Administration."

Offices: "Defense, Religions and Beliefs, Counsel, Media, Oil and Underground Resources, Development and Planning, Humanitarian Affairs."

Departments: "Department of Foreign Relations."

As for the Justice Council in the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria, it consists of 13 members who have experience and legal certificates and have a long history of human rights work. They were nominated by the preparatory committee, and the formation of the Justice Council was announced on April 25, 2019.

The difference between it and other systems of government

The Autonomous Administration is based on the philosophy of the democratic nation of the leader Abdullah Ocalan, which he talked about a lot in his arguments, especially in the "sociology of freedom" and during his lawyers' meetings about the concept of Democratic Autonomous Administration. This model was not restricted to the Kurds only, but it is considered the ideal model for solving all Middle Eastern problems, and he confirms that the nation-state model does not fit the formative nature of Middle Eastern societies.

Ocalan says: "If the democratic nation was a soul, then the Democratic Autonomous Administration would be its body, just as the body should not be without a soul, and likewise the soul cannot be without a body. Thus, a democratic nation cannot be without the Democratic Autonomous Administration nor is the Democratic Autonomous Administration can be without the democratic nation."

Ocalan asserts that the Autonomous Administration is not based on the principle of one nation, one geography, and even one religion, but rather on the basis of different peoples and societies and on the foundations of democracy. This is considered to be a transgression of the mentality of the nation-state.

The leader Ocalan says: "In the Democratic Autonomous Administration system, what is important is the will to manage the society. Society facilitates the duties of the central state and manages itself by itself. I say about it that the center surrenders its duties to society. In the Democratic Autonomous Administration, there is no anti-state presence.

Consequently, the Autonomous Administration is a method of administration outside the state's framework, in which peoples and societies manage their affairs outside the state's circle, and it differs in the content and philosophy of management from the systematic self-government method because the authorities of self-government in a specific region are an autonomous administrative system that follows the central government and takes a form within the state, not within society.

The self-government authority itself represents the state in the region in which it governs, but the Democratic Autonomous Administration keeps itself outside the state, and it does not link itself to the central government, so that in responding to the needs of society and organizing itself in all villages, neighborhoods, cities and regions, it tries to weaken the centrality of the state and statism concept and mentality to the point where there is no such thing as a central government.

The Democratic Autonomous Administration emerges from within the society and embraces the whole society, and that its foundation and base are the will, demands and needs of society.

In the self-government authority, the limits of its administration and its executive authority may be on the basis of geography, nationality, or specific religion, but in the Democratic Autonomous Administration, it does not take these frameworks as its basis.

In this context, Kurdish politician Azad Barazi says: "The system of government in Syria since its establishment has been central, but in the Autonomous Administration, the source of decision is the civil councils and administrations, and they have a strong presence, and nothing is dictated to them from the center."

He pointed out that the peculiarity of Autonomous Administration from other forms of government is the representation of all components in the administration and that no one is excluded. He continued: "This homeland is for everyone, and in the Autonomous Administration everyone is represented within it, and this matter is very clear through the organizational structure in the Autonomous Administration generally and in the civil councils. In addition, we see that there is diversity in all fields."

But the most important point, according to Azad Barzai, is the representation of women through their presence and strong role within the Administration, in addition to the co-chairmanship model applied in all councils, bodies and offices of the Autonomous Administration except for the Woman Body.

What did the Autonomous Administration offer?

The regions of northern and eastern Syria have been attacked since the beginning of the Syrian crisis, and this has left a great deal of damage at various levels. Therefore, the Autonomous Administration has undertaken to restore what was destroyed.

In this context, the Co-Chair of the Executive Council, Berivan Khaled, indicated that after the liberation of the area from ISIS mercenaries, the last of which was the liberation of al-Baghoz town in the countryside of Deir ez-Zor on March 23, 2019, the Autonomous Administration undertook to restore the infrastructure and support the agricultural and economic sectors, and the health sector which was almost destroyed, in addition to the education sector.

The Administration has provided basic services to citizens since its establishment, such as rehabilitating the service sector; water, electricity, roads and others, seeking to provide them with their basic needs, and laying down laws that regulate the region.

According to Berivan Khaled, they focused in their strategic plans at the beginning on the priorities, as the region was devastated as a result of the attacks it was subjected to, whether by ISIS or Turkey.

On the external level, the Autonomous Administration expanded its foreign relations, and this was evident in the delegations' visit and the conclusion of international agreements, the most important of which was the agreement signed with the United Nations to prevent child recruitment in July 2019, in addition to the oil agreement with an American company.

The most important laws of the Autonomous Administration

Due to the attacks launched on the region by ISIS and groups associated with the Baathist regime and the Turkish attacks, the Self-Defense of the region was of great importance, so it was necessary to issue a special law for the performance of the Duty of Self-Defense, as the Law of the Duty of Self-Defense that was issued on July 21, 2014 was amended included the provision of each family a member between the ages of 18-30 to perform the Duty of Self-Defense.

In view of the great danger that the terrorist operations pose to society and their threat to civil peace, and in view of the enormous economic damage resulting from their terrorist acts and their destructive effects, it was necessary to pass the Anti-Terrorism Law to ensure peace, security and stability in society, as the Council issued the Anti-Terrorism Law on 27 September, 2014.

Everyone aspires to a decentralized Syria that reflects the reality of the diversity of the Syrian society

Over the past two years of the formation of the Autonomous Administration in North and East Syria, it has been subjected to many internal and external attacks, but its steadfastness until this moment and the survival of its democratic political project in place according to observers is the most powerful message for those stalking it, and it indicates the extent to which the peoples of the region believe that this model is only the way out for Syria towards a political solution that guarantees the rights of all components of the Syrian people according to the vision of decentralization that the majority of the true opposition spectra have believed in.

In this context, Kurdish politician Azad Barazi says that everyone aspires to a pluralistic Syria that reflects the reality of the cultural, political, national and sectarian diversity in the Syrian society, and everyone's participation in an administration that represents them, and this is what the Autonomous Administration achieves.

Barazi concluded his speech by saying: "Everyone aspires for the future Syria to be a decentralized Syria, and for everyone to have a real presence and participate in decision-making and shaping the future of this country."

D.H

ANHA

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