NORTH & EAST SYRIA: Christian Council visits Autonomous Administration officials in unexpected and rare meeting

Amuda, Gozarto – The Christian Council which represents Syriac churches, (educational) organizations and political parties in the Gozarto (al-Jazeera) Region, visited the Democratic Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria in its Amuda office.

The Christian Council delegation and the DAA officials adressed current circumstances and everyday problems in the Gozarto Region and how cooperation between the two sides can help address these issues and difficulties. The two parties agreed cooperation, good practices and policy are essential in overcoming issues in the difficult situation the region is currently going through.

The meeting came about at the request of His Holiness Ignatius Yusuf III Yonan, patriarch of the Syriac Catholic Church. The meeting can be seen as a rapprochement by the Syriac churches and their secular respresentatives to have a working relationship with the Autonomous Administration.

Salient detail, is that the Christian Council and the DAA have not always been on goods terms. In 2018 the two sides were in conflict because of disagreement from the side of the Christian Council over the intended transformation by the DAA of the curriculum on the Syrian Arab Republic state schools managed by the Christian Council. After intense resistance by the Christian Council the intended introduction of the new DAA school curriculum was cancelled.

Another noticable detail was that the Christian Council didn’t sit down with Syriac officials of the DAA but only with Kurdish and Arab DAA officials. The Christian Council delegation was headed by Aziz Ahe. The delegation was received by co-chairs of the Legislative Council of the Amuda district Hussein Azzam and Arya Mulla Ahmed and by co-chair of the Executive Council in the Gozarto (al-Jazeera) Region Talaat Younis. Co-chair of the Executive Council in the Gozarto Region Nazira Goreya was not present at the meeting.