On 27–28 June 2016, the executive committee to organize a constitution for the region, to replace the 2014 constitution, presented its draft.[5]
Background
Areas controlled and claimed by Syrian Kurds and allies (Feb. 2014).
When the Syrian Civil War broke out in 2011, the Syrian Kurdish parties avoided taking sides. When Syrian government forces retreated in mid-2012 to fight the mostly Arab rebels elsewhere, Kurdish groups gradually took control.[6] On 12 July 2012, the two main political alliances in the autonomous region, the Movement for a Democratic Society (including Democratic Union Party (PYD)) and the Kurdish National Council (KNC) formed Kurdish Supreme Committee (KSC) as the overarching governing body of all three self-proclaimed cantons of Afrin, Kobane and Jazira.[7] The PYD and its armed wing People's Protection Units (YPG) soon became the dominant force.[6] Soon PYD and other allied parties in Movement for a Democratic Society declared a unilateral interim government in November 2013 and also a committee was appointed to write a transitional constitution.[7] Nevertheless, in January 2014 it agreed to form a coalition government with the KNC,[6] but this agreement didn't last long.
We, the people of the Democratic Autonomous Regions of Afrin, Jazira and Kobani, a confederation of Kurds, Arabs, Syriacs, Arameans, Turkmen, Armenians and Chechens, freely and solemnly declare and establish this Charter.
In pursuit of freedom, justice, dignity and democracy and led by principles of equality and environmental sustainability, the Charter proclaims a new social contract, based upon mutual and peaceful coexistence and understanding between all strands of society. It protects fundamental human rights and liberties and reaffirms the peoples’ right to self-determination.
Under the Charter, we, the people of the Autonomous Regions, unite in the spirit of reconciliation, pluralism and democratic participation so that all may express themselves freely in public life. In building a society free from authoritarianism, militarism, centralism and the intervention of religious authority in public affairs, the Charter recognizes Syria’s territorial integrity and aspires to maintain domestic and international peace.
In establishing this Charter, we declare a political system and civil administration founded upon a social contract that reconciles the rich mosaic of Syria through a transitional phase from dictatorship, civil war and destruction, to a new democratic society where civic life and social justice are preserved.
Section
Articles
Contents
General Principles
1–12
Article 4 lists the structure of the government. Article 3 and 5 lists the administrative centers of each canton. Article 12 confirms Rojava as an integral part of Syria.
