European Syriac Union and Assyrian Democratic Organization co-host Syria symposium, call for decentralized governance

ENSCHEDE, The Netherlands — As Syria enters a new and uncertain political phase, the European Syriac Union (ESU) and the Assyrian Democratic Organization (ADO) co-hosted a symposium to inform and discuss ongoing developments on the ground and their possible impacts on the Syriac (Aramean–Assyrian–Chaldean) people. The symposium was held last Sunday at the Syriac Orthodox Church of St. Peter and Paul in Enschede, the Netherlands, and was attended by some 500 attendees, concerned and anxious about the future of the Syria they fled.

New Social Contract

Guest speakers included New Social Contract (NSC) party leader Pieter Omtzigt and NSC MP Isa Kahraman, himself a Syriac-Aramean. The two emphasized that their party will fully commit itself in the Dutch parliament to the democratic rights of minority groups in Syria, now dominated by Muslim Sunnis, and that their party will also do the same for the Dutch government. They find a friend in the Dutch Minister of Foreign Affairs Caspar Veldkamp.

Veldkamp, also of NSC, had already indicated a week earlier that his government is committed to supporting Christians and other vulnerable groups in Syria. “Your commitment also strengthens my commitment,” he said at a conference organized a week earlier by the World Council of Arameans (Syriacs).

Also read: Foreign Minister Veldkamp confirms Dutch government’s support for Syriac Christians and other vulnerable groups in Syria

Omtzigt and Kahraman alluded to the words of their minister and that they too will critically follow the political process there and the new Syrian transitional leaders in their dealings with the rights of Christians and other smaller peoples within the borders of Syria.

Decentralized Syria

Co-hosts Assyrian Democratic Organization and European Syriac Union were represented by Senharib Mirza, head of the Dutch branch of ADO, and Fehmi Vergili, ESU Co-Chair. Mirza explained how the ADO has been strongly committed to an inclusive and democratic Syria, from within the opposition, since the start of the Syrian conflict and that this has gained momentum in the past two months. The leaders of the ADO have been visiting many officials and religious leaders in Syria in recent weeks to reach consensus on the future of their country, and how this can best be incorporated in a national conference on a new constitution. Mirza also indicated that he advocates the idea of a decentralized Syria, something that his party has never explicitly supported. He indicated that the Democratic Autonomous Administration of the Region of North and East Syria (DAARNES) can serve as an example in this regard.

ESU Co-Chair Vergili took a longer perspective. According to him, the current problems in Syria have their origins in the Middle East of the 1990s with the Gulf War and in 2003 with the fall of Saddam Hussein. From there, the conflict moved within a few years to Tunisia, Libya, and Egypt, among others, where the dictatorial regimes were quickly overthrown. However, it took Syria 13 years to bring down dictator Bashar al-Assad, a delay largely the result of regime backers Iran and Russia. Today, the initiative lies with Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, which is increasingly accepted internationally.

Vergili said that:

“The Syriac people must take a serious lesson from the past decades. We as a people have failed to achieve our autonomous goals regarding the Nineveh Plain, despite having many opportunities to unite and achieve it. Therefore, we as the ESU [affiliated with the Betnnahrin National Council] have learned these lessons and tried to avoid making the same mistakes regarding Syria. That is why our Council fully participated in the Autonomous Region in Syria for the past 13 years, established the Syriac Military Council and rolled out a political program through our local sister party, the Syriac Union Party.”

He continued:

“Take the example of the introduction of the Syriac curriculum in our schools. Our people did not understand the underlying process (where we wanted to go as a people, and where the country was going). The people did not support and endorse the military, cultural and political institutions that we had established. And yet our neighbors, the Kurds, have followed that path and have now even established universities in Northeast Syria. Because of the internal opposition, we have not been able to go beyond introducing the Syriac curriculum to the primary school classes.

“As a people, we have too often placed our hopes on the ruling regimes. Most of our people were with al-Assad. This is wrong. Syriacs can no longer place their hopes on other peoples. We must learn from our history. If we do not have political power, no one will take us seriously. We must strengthen ourselves militarily, financially, politically and culturally. It is now the responsibility of all Syriac [Aramean–Assyrian–Chaldean] parties in Syria to work together and give our people the place in the new constitution we deserve.”

ESU and ADO indicated that the symposium was the first in a series of symposia, lectures and discussions to be held across Europe, aiming to address the shifting landscape in the homeland of the Syriac (Aramean–Assyrian–Chaldean) people.