MERI 2026: Ilham Ahmed says SDF integration remains under test

Shafaq News- Erbil

The integration of former Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) fighters and institutions into the Syrian state has made real progress but remains “in a testing phase,” Ilham Ahmed, a senior Kurdish political figure and member of the Syrian People’s Assembly’s Foreign Relations Committee, said on Monday.

Speaking at the Middle East Research Institute's MERI Forum 2026 in Erbil, Ahmed said bringing the SDF and other armed groups into the army had helped reopen cities and border crossings and strengthened stability. Syria's revolution, she added, remains unfinished as the country rebuilds after years of war.

Official recognition of the Kurdish people in Syria sets a historic precedent, Ahmed said, but the presidential decree behind it falls short, particularly on the right to education in Kurdish. Without clear mechanisms to put those rights into practice, she warned, the decree leaves room for confusion.

Ahmed also pointed to a decline in women's participation in institutions and decision-making, even as the AANES's military and administrative bodies are folded into the state.

She blamed what she called "the fanatical and racist mentality" of some parties, along with foreign and regional interference, for continuing security tensions and attempts to undermine Syria's stability.

Read more: Kurds in Syria: From marginalization to a defining political force