The Democratic Union Party is a Kurdish left-wing political party established on 20 September 2003 in northern Syria. It is a founding member of the National Coordination Body for Democratic Change. It is the leading political party among Syrian Kurds. The PYD was established as a Syrian branch of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) in 2003, and both organizations are still closely affiliated through the Kurdistan Communities Union (KCK).
The Kurdish National Council is a Syrian Kurdish political party. While the KNC had initially more international support than the ruling Democratic Union Party (PYD) during the early years of the Syrian civil war and a strong supporter basis among some Syrian Kurdish refugees, the overwhelming popular support the PYD enjoys has eroded support for the KNC in Syrian Kurdistan, losing almost all popular support.
The Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES), also known as Rojava, is a de facto autonomous region in northeastern Syria. It consists of self-governing sub-regions in the areas of Afrin, Jazira, Euphrates, Raqqa, Tabqa, Manbij, and Deir Ez-Zor. The region gained its de facto autonomy in 2012 in the context of the ongoing Rojava conflict and the wider Syrian civil war, in which its official military force, the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), has taken part.
The Kurdish Democratic Political Union, or KDPU was a Syrian Kurdish alliance linked to Iraqi Kurdish president Massoud Barzani's Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP).
The Internal Security Forces, also known as the Asayish in the Jazira, Euphrates, and Afrin Regions, is the police force of the autonomous regions of Rojava. Formed in the early stages of the Syrian Civil War, it had initially been established to police areas controlled by the Kurdish Supreme Committee. In October 2013, the Asayish claimed to have 4,000 members; by 2017, the number had reportedly risen to over 15,000.
The Jazira Region, formerly Jazira Canton,, is the largest of the three original regions of the de facto Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES). As part of the ongoing Rojava conflict, its democratic autonomy was officially declared on 21 January 2014. The region is in the Al-Hasakah Governorate of Syria.
Syrian Kurdistan is a region in northern Syria where Kurds form the majority. It is surrounding three noncontiguous enclaves along the Turkish and Iraqi borders: Afrin in the northwest, Kobani in the north, and Jazira in the northeast. Syrian Kurdistan is often called Western Kurdistan or Rojava, one of the four "Lesser Kurdistans" that comprise "Greater Kurdistan", alongside Iranian Kurdistan, Turkish Kurdistan, and Iraqi Kurdistan.
A number of different symbols have been used to represent the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (NES), commonly known as Rojava. The Autonomous Administration adopted an official emblem in December 2018. The emblem consists of the words "Autonomous Administration" in Arabic, surrounded by seven red stars representing the regions of northeast Syria, as well as a branch of olives and spike of wheat, two crops grown in the region. Surrounding all of the symbols is the words "Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria" written in Arabic, Kurmanji, Syriac, and Turkish, the languages spoken in the region. The blue and yellow semicircles the whole emblem is put upon represents the Euphrates river and the "permanent spring" of the region. A flag with the Autonomous Administration's emblem on a white field is also used occasionally to represent the Administration itself.
In the de facto autonomous Rojava region of northern Syria, the first local elections took place on Friday, 13 March 2015. The municipal governments in the three predominantly Kurdish cantons Cizîrê, Kobanî and Afrin were to be elected.
The Constitution of the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria, officially titled Charter of the Social Contract, is the provisional constitution of the self-proclaimed autonomous region known as the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria. It was adopted on 29 January 2014, when the Democratic Union Party (PYD), the political wing of the People's Protection Units (YPG) and the largest party in the autonomous region, declared the three regions it controlled autonomous from the Syrian government. Article 12 states the autonomous region remains an "integral part of Syria", anticipating a future federalization of Syria.
The foreign relations of Rojava are the external relations of the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES). The AANES, consisting of three regions, was formed in early 2014 in the context of the Syrian Civil War, a conflict that has caused the involvement of many different countries and international organizations in the area.
The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) is a coalition of ethnic militias and rebel groups which serve as the official defence force of the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES). Formed as a rebel alliance in the Syrian civil war, the SDF is composed primarily of Kurdish, Arab, and Assyrian/Syriac, as well as some smaller Armenian, Turkmen and Chechen forces. It is militarily led by the People's Protection Units (YPG), a Kurdish militia recognized as a terrorist group by Turkey. SDF also includes several ethnic militias, and various factions of the Syrian opposition's Free Syrian Army. Founded in 10 October 2015, the SDF claims that its mission as fighting to create a secular, democratic and federalised Syria. According to Turkey, the Syrian Democratic Forces has direct links to the PKK which it recognizes a terrorist group.
The Rojava conflict, also known as the Rojava Revolution, is a political upheaval and military conflict taking place in northern Syria, known among Kurds as Western Kurdistan or Rojava.
The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) has many military councils for local security and defense, each being accountable to the civil council of the area they operate in.
Self-Defense Forces is a multi-ethnic territorial defense militia and the only conscripted armed force in the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria. As a self-defense force, manpower for the HXP is recruited locally.
The Kurdish National Alliance in Syria is a Syrian Kurdish coalition formed by five Syrian Kurdish parties in the city of Amuda in the al-Hasakah Governorate of northeastern Syria in 13 February 2016. Four of the five parties in the coalition were originally members of the Kurdish National Council, but were expelled due to their cooperation with the Democratic Union Party (PYD).
The de facto Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria, sometimes referred to as "Rojava", is divided into several self-governing regions. The Afrin, Jazira and Euphrates Regions followed from the cantons established in January 2014 and were envisioned as sub-divisions for a future federalisation of Syria. The three cantons were later reorganized into three regions with subordinate cantons, areas, districts and communes.
In the early morning of 25 April 2017, the Turkish Air Force conducted multiple airstrikes against media centers and headquarters of the People's Protection Units (YPG) and the Women's Protection Units (YPJ) in northeastern Syria, and against positions of the Sinjar Resistance Units (YBŞ) on Mount Sinjar, northwestern Iraq. The airstrikes killed 20 YPG and YPJ fighters in Syria in addition to five Peshmerga soldiers in Iraq.
The first local elections in the Democratic Federation of Northern Syria were held on 22 September 2017. Representatives of 3,700 communes in the regions of the Northern Syria Federation were selected in the election, involving 12,421 candidates. The communal elections on 22 September were followed by elections of local councils in December and a federal parliamentary election of the People's Democratic Council, the region's highest governing body, in 2018. Some areas controlled by the Syrian Democratic Forces were not included in the election, including the city of Manbij.
The Democratic Conservative Party, also known simply as the Conservative Party, is a political party founded in 2017 that operates in Rojava, an unrecognized constituent proto-state of Syria.
