Deir ez-Zor residents call for decentralization as solution to a Syrian political solution

There are growing calls for pragmatic solutions following the Syrian crisis intricacies that can guarantee the country's unity and respect its social and cultural diversity. In this regard, the people of Deir ez-Zor attested that the autonomous governance is the sole model for the stability of Syria.

Here, Yahya al-Ali, the Future Syria Party Council co-chair in Hajin city, emphasized that the existing crisis in Syria that tore down the political and social fabric must find pragmatic solutions that are based on the country's reality. He emphasized that democratic autonomous experience and administrative decentralization is the best method to end the conflict and ensure all the communities' rights.

Al-Ali said, "We can recognize here a realistic experience that can achieve social justice and ensure peaceful coexistence between religious and ethnic groups. This is the spirit of the Syrian revolution, which was launched for freedom and dignity."

He told us that the Autonomous Administration has been able to present all of its components Kurds, Arabs, Syriacs, and others by the mechanism of joint presidency and local councils in such a way that no party can monopolize it. He went on to add, "We believe in direct democracy and participation of the population in decision-making via local conferences and communes, which we consider the real guarantee of sustainable stability, free from authoritarian centralism."

For his part, Saad al-Mahmoud, a resident of Abu al-Khater and a Local Hajin Council member, believed that the project of the Autonomous Administration facilitates coexistence in peace and the preservation of diversity by means of laws that enshrine equality and preclude discrimination, while the other system was based on marginalization and exclusion for decades.

Al-Mahmoud said, "The Syrian crisis requires a decentralized political solution that ends the monopoly on power and distributes powers according to the identity of each region, without abandoning Syria's geographical unity under the umbrella of a democratic constitution." He emphasized that democratic decentralization and autonomous administration are the realistic options for reaching stability because they rely on the people's will and cherish pluralism and diversity.

On similar lines, Rawaa al-Khalif of al-Hawamah presented her opinion saying, "Many are scared of decentralization because it will lead to the dissolution of Syria, but the truth confirms that the authoritarian centralized regime is the one that took the country to fragmentation and disintegration through repression and marginalization." She added, "It is sad that most of the political forces are still captives of centralized ideology, while at this moment it is no longer possible to rebuild Syria or achieve real reconciliation except by a fair and comprehensive decentralized system."

She concluded by saying, "Syria cannot tolerate any more failed experiments. Decentralization is no longer a matter of theory, but a national imperative to end the war and build a stable society."

ANHA