Around 100 Autonomous Administration judges head to Damascus for interviews
HASAKAH, Syria (North Press) – Around 100 judges affiliated with justice councils of the Kurdish Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES) are set to travel to Damascus this week for individual interviews with Syria’s justice minister and the Higher Judicial Council, a legal source close to the AANES told North Press on Saturday.
The move is seen as a preliminary step toward accrediting 40 of those judges within Syria’s official judicial system.
According to the source, the Syrian transitional government plans to directly assign 20 of the selected judges to work in courts in Hasakah Governorate, while another 20 will undergo further qualification at the Higher Judicial Institute before formally assuming judicial duties.
The development follows a meeting last week between Mazloum Abdi, Commander-in-Chief of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), and judges from the Justice Council affiliated with the AANES.
The meeting reportedly focused on the file of integrating the judicial institution into Syria’s Ministry of Justice.
Debate over judicial integration has recently intensified in Hasakah, particularly after protests erupted over the removal of the Kurdish language from the signboard of the Palace of Justice in the city. Demonstrators called for Kurdish to be placed alongside Arabic on official judicial signage.
Over the past years, the AANES established its own courts across areas under its control, organizing a judicial structure that included judges, lawyers and public prosecutors to manage legal affairs and resolve disputes locally.
The latest step signals ongoing coordination between Damascus and the AANES regarding the future of judicial institutions in northeast Syria, amid broader discussions on administrative and institutional integration.