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 Regions under the control of the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES) | ||
The 2024 Rojava local elections were set to be held on 8 August 2024. Seats and co-mayorships for 134 municipalities within the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES)'s seven regions were to be contested by 5,336 candidates. [1]
Initially set to be held on 30 May, the election was postponed to 11 June, and then to 8 August. It was not ultimately held. [2]
The last election held in the region was the 2017 Rojava regional elections, with the planned federal election set for 19 January 2018 having been postponed indefinitely. [3]
The 2024 local elections were to be held in the context of a new constitution (also referred to as the social contract) adopted in December 2023 by the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria, which renamed itself the Democratic Administration of the North and East Syria Region. [1] [4] Under the new constitution, the number of municipalities were increased from 122 to 192, but the election will not be held in municipalities under Turkish occupation. [5]
In response to the election, Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan threatened military action against the region, saying:
"Turkey will never allow the separatist organization to establish a 'terroristan' in the north of Syria and Iraq, just beyond its southern borders." [6]
The decision to hold elections have also attracted opposition from Syria and the United States, with the latter urging the administration not to proceed with the election. [7] [8]
The two alliances participating in the local elections include the Peoples’ and Women's Alliance for Freedom and the Together for Better Service Alliance. [5]
The main opposition group the Kurdish National Council (ENKS) has announced it will boycott the election, with a senior member saying "the elections will not be fair because the PYD is militarily powerful". [9]
The Peoples’ and Women's Alliance for Freedom includes Zenobia Women's Gathering, Yazidi Syria Union, Democratic Conservative Party, Revolutionary Left Current in Syria, Syriac Union Party, Democratic Union Party, Future Syria Party, National Rally Party of Kurdistan, Kurdish Left Party in Syria, Arab National Authority, Kurdistan Democratic Party in Syria - Al-Parti, Democratic Peace Party of Kurdistan, Kurdish Democratic Party in Syria - Al-Parti, Kurdish Democratic Party - Syria, Modernity and Democracy Party of Syria, Kurdistan Democratic Change Party, Kongra Star, Syrian National Democratic Alliance, Assyrian Democratic Party, Armenian Social Council, Civil Justice Movement Party, and the Kurdistan Democratic Party - Western Kurdistan. [10]
The Together for Better Service Alliance includes the Green Democratic Party, Kurdistan Workers Union, Kurdistan Brotherhood Party, Democratic Kurdish Left Party in Syria, and the Kurdistan Renewal Movement - Syria. [11]
The four parties contesting independent of any alliances include the Kurdish Democratic Unity Party in Syria (Yeketi), Syrian National Democratic Alliance (Taqba), National Democratic Development and Building Party, and the Syrian Homeland Party. [12] 270 independent candidates have also announced their candidacy. [13]
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 in Syria or Kurdish National Council (KNC) 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 Democratic Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (DAANES), also known as Rojava, is a de facto autonomous region in northeastern Syria. It consists of self-governing sub-regions in the areas of Jazira, Euphrates, Raqqa, Tabqa, 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 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.
Afrin Region was the westernmost of the three original regions of the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria.
A number of different symbols have been used to represent the Democratic Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (DAANES), commonly known as Rojava. The Autonomous Adminisrtation 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.
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 countries and international organizations in the area.
AANES–Ba'athist Syria relations concern the military and political relations between the Ba'athist Syrian Arab Republic and the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES), a de facto autonomous multi-ethnic region in northern and eastern Syria. The Syrian Ba'athist government did not officially recognise the autonomy of the AANES, and advocated a centralist approach to the governance of Syria. The NES seeks the federalisation of Syria. For most of the Syrian civil war, there was a non-aggression pact between the military of Syria and the Syrian Democratic Forces, with occasional confrontations and some cooperation against Islamist groups, in particular against the Turkish Armed Forces and the Turkish-backed Syrian National Army. While the two sides co-operated militarily under Russian supervision since 2019, with Syrian and Russian troops stationed along the Turkish border to prevent further advances, political negotiations ended in failure. The Assad regime had no authority or institutions in North and East Syria outside of its two security boxes in Qamishli/Qamislo and Al-Hasakah/Heseke. The Autonomous Administration did not allow the Syrian Government to hold elections in areas under its control.
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 Council (SDC) is the political wing of the Syrian Democratic Forces in the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES). The SDC's stated mission is working towards the implementation of a "Pluralistic, democratic and decentralized system for all of Syria".
The Shahba Canton was a political unit of the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria, in the Aleppo Governorate. The canton was established to administer the areas captured by the Syrian Democratic Forces from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant west of the Euphrates, as part of the Afrin Region.
The Federal Executive Council or simply the Executive Council of the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria, acts as a joint coordination committee that oversees the implementation of policies developed by the Federal Assembly of the Syrian Democratic Council.
Îlham Ehmed, also rendered as Îlham Ahmed, is a Kurdish politician from Syria and a member of Democratic Union Party currently serving as the co-president of the Executive Council of the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (Rojava) and member of the executive committee of the Movement for a Democratic Society (TEV-DEM) coalition. Until July 2018, she was a co-chair of the Syrian Democratic Council (SDC), a political wing of the Syrian Democratic Forces that acts as the legislature for Rojava.
Hawar News Agency is a news agency. The site started as an Arabic-only news service. Hawar News is linked to the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES) and its armed forces the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF).
The Sinjar clashes of 3 March 2017 occurred between pro-PKK forces, namely the Sinjar Resistance Units (YBŞ) and the Êzîdxan Women's Units (YJÊ), and the Rojava Peshmerga that serve as the Kurdish National Council's paramilitary wing. After KNC forces entered the town of Khanasor in the Iraqi Sinjar Mountains, fighting boke out among unclear circumstances, resulting in dozens of casualties.
The Kurdish Democratic Progressive Party in Syria is one of the oldest Kurdish parties in Syria, having been active since seceding from the Kurdistan Democratic Party of Syria the 1960s. Prominently led by Abd al-Hamid Darwish for much of its history, who was described as "one of the last remaining of the original Kurdish political activists", the PDPKS serves as the Syrian sister party of the Iraqi Patriotic Union of Kurdistan. Known for its moderate and conciliatory politics, the party has sided at different times during the Syrian Civil War with the Syrian opposition, the Ba'athist government, the Kurdish National Council, and the Democratic Union Party.
Kurdistan Region–Syria relations are bilateral relations between Kurdistan Region and Syria. Kurdistan Region and Syria are neighbors, but Kurdistan Region only borders PYD-held Rojava since the Syrian civil war. Kurdistan Region and Syria share two border-crossings, and 237,364 Syrian refugees remained in Kurdistan Region in December 2023.
The first Rojava regional elections were held on 1 December 2017. Local councils for the Jazira Region, Euphrates Region and Afrin Region were elected as well as for the subordinate cantons, areas and districts of the regions of Rojava. This followed the communal elections that were held on 22 September and was to be followed by a federal parliamentary election of the Syrian Democratic Council, the region's highest governing body, initially scheduled for January 2018, but was later postponed.
Ferhad Şamî, also known as Farhad Shami or Farhad al-Shami, is a Kurdish military leader and spokesperson. He is a spokesperson for the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), a Kurdish-led alliance of forces involved in the fight against the Islamic State (ISIS) and regional security challenges.
