Syria’s KNC: Kurdish partnership key to building unified Syrian state
Shafaq News – Damascus
The Kurdish issue in Syria is a central national question that must be addressed in any effort to rebuild the country, a senior Kurdish National Council (KNC) official declared Tuesday.
Suleiman Oso, a member of the KNC Presidential Body and the joint Kurdish delegation negotiating with Damascus, told Shafaq News that any durable settlement requires a clear commitment from Syria’s leadership and urged the government to abandon rhetoric of “separatism and treason” in favor of confronting “decades of Baathist marginalization” through a serious and inclusive framework.
“A fair solution means real national partnership—one that fully includes the Kurdish people,” he stressed.
Oso welcomed recent remarks by Syrian transitional President Ahmad al-Sharaa supporting Kurdish constitutional rights, calling them a positive signal but insufficient without concrete steps, while pressing Damascus to engage directly with the joint Kurdish delegation formed during the April 26, 2025 Qamishli Conference on Kurdish unity.
Rejecting tokenism, he argued that “the Kurdish question cannot be reduced to handing out positions, as though symbolic representation were the goal of a political movement that has struggled for more than six decades against the al-Assad regimes in defense of its rights and dignity.” Oso called for explicit constitutional recognition of Kurds as an indigenous people with guaranteed rights.
He described the Qamishli Conference as a turning point for the Kurdish political movement despite attempts to undermine it, emphasizing that safeguarding its outcomes is a shared duty for all who support Kurdish unity and reform.
The official concluded by affirming that Kurds, as Syria’s second-largest community, must be represented in state institutions on a legal and constitutional basis, arguing that genuine Kurdish participation is essential to building a unified, stable, and democratic Syria.
