Zozan Alloush: Syria needs to address inherited legacy to achieve sustainable peace

More than a year and a half after the fall of the Baath regime and the formation of the interim government, Syria is still living in a state of chaos and instability, amid the absence of clear solutions and mechanisms to achieve sustainable peace.

In this context, strategic expert Zozan Alloush, who has held several positions including work with De Facto for dialogues and mediation, membership in the Women’s Advisory Board of the Office of the UN Special Envoy for Syria, and membership in the Euro-Mediterranean Women’s Mediation Initiative, stated that achieving lasting peace in Syria is a major issue involving many files and challenges.

Zozan said that one of the most important steps toward peace in Syria is to deal honestly with the past and confront the accumulated legacy left by the Baath regime, in addition to addressing the effects of thirteen years of crisis in a way that guarantees lasting peace. Otherwise, peace will remain a distant goal.

She noted that dealing with the past requires a shared understanding of it, as well as clear mechanisms for reconciliation and mutual recognition among Syrians, considering this the basis for building peace that depends on transitional justice, according to models used by countries such as Switzerland.

She pointed out the difference between the general concept of transitional justice, which focuses permanently on trials without addressing the roots of past crises, and the Swiss model, which focuses on dealing with massacres committed throughout history in Africa and other countries by developing the concept of confronting the past.

She emphasized that dealing with the past is important for ensuring sustainable peace, because it helps prevent the repetition of previous abuses, grants social justice, and ensures the right to know the fate of victims such as the missing and forcibly disappeared.

Alloush added that other issues necessary for peace in Syria include fair political participation, as well as women’s and youth participation, in order to promote concepts through two main approaches: “top-down and bottom-up.” She said that building lasting peace in Syria is one issue among many and cannot be limited to only one matter.

She pointed out that the main obstacles hindering peace in Syria are the exclusionary mentality still present after Assad’s fall and the liberation process. Syrians, she said, are still conditioned by a mindset that sees itself as always right and seeks to monopolize the truth.

She stressed that Syrians need training in listening to one another and learning that truth does not belong to one side but to all parties.

Zozan said one of the key obstacles today is the refusal to accept others, as each side sees itself as right while ignoring others and maintaining authoritarian and totalitarian thinking. She also mentioned other obstacles such as social, religious, and sectarian problems.

She stated that until today there is no absolute conviction that Syria needs a state governed by law, and that the law must apply equally to everyone regardless of background or religion.

She added that many Kurds demanded accountability for the person who lowered the Syrian flag during Nowruz celebrations in Kobani, while a large number of Arabs, in her words, did not demand accountability for those who attacked Kurds during Nowruz celebrations in Afrin. She asked where the law is that should punish both sides equally, saying: “This is an example of the importance of a state of law.”

On the importance of dialogue between Syrian parties and components to end the conflict, Zozan believed that strengthening the language of dialogue among the different groups can help end the crisis.

She noted that they have returned to square one in dialogue, 14 years after the fall of the Baath regime. She added that dialogue had existed between Kurds and Arabs in Deir ez-Zor, Raqqa, and Hasaka, but the recent attacks in the region pushed matters back to “zero,” in her words. She said: “We need a new and completely different dialogue.”

Zozan believed that Syrians should be united by shared reconciliation and mutual benefits, with an economic mindset based on mutual respect, ensuring that these become the main driving force of relations among them.

She also stressed the importance of having a constitution that guarantees the rights of all Syrian components, explaining that the constitution file is long and complicated and requires an extended process.

She continued by saying that any state can draft the best constitution, but the real problem lies in implementation, as Syria does not have the necessary and sufficient tools to enforce the constitution.

At the conclusion of her remarks, she stressed that what matters more than having a constitution is practical implementation. She confirmed that the problem is not the existence of a constitution itself—especially since a draft was proposed during the transitional period—but rather whether the interim government has the openness to amend it in a way that addresses sensitivities and realities and takes them into account.

She said: “After that begins the battle, or struggle, of implementation.”

ANHA