{"id":135590,"date":"2026-02-15T18:34:20","date_gmt":"2026-02-15T18:34:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/npasyria.com\/en\/?p=135590"},"modified":"2026-02-15T18:34:23","modified_gmt":"2026-02-15T18:34:23","slug":"sdf-commander-calls-for-decentralized-local-governance-in-syria","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/npasyria.com\/en\/135590\/","title":{"rendered":"SDF commander calls for decentralized local governance in Syria"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>QAMISHLI, Syria (North Press)<\/strong> \u2013 The General Commander of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), Mazloum Abdi, said on Sunday that Kurds in northeast Syria seek a decentralized form of local governance within a unified Syrian state, emphasizing that administrative self-management remains their primary demand regardless of terminology.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Abdi\u2019s remarks came during responses to questions from Kurdish media outlet Rudaw on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference, following a meeting with Kurdistan Region President Nechirvan Barzani, attended by Ilham Ahmed, co-chair of the External Relations Department of the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThe main demand of the Kurds in northeast Syria is decentralized local governance under any name,\u201d Abdi said, according to statements published Sunday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">His comments followed recent remarks by Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shibani denying that Kurdish groups were seeking autonomy. Abdi said the disagreement with Damascus centered on wording rather than substance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThe issue for the Syrian government concerns titles and terminology, not the content,\u201d he stated, adding, \u201cWe are not committed to a specific designation, but rather that Kurds manage their regions\u2019 affairs themselves.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Abdi stressed that discussions during the international conference included meetings with multiple global actors, all of whom expressed support for Kurdish rights and the need to protect the specific character of Kurdish-populated areas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cAll parties we met emphasized the necessity of safeguarding the particularity of Kurdish regions and preventing renewed attacks against them,\u201d he said, noting that the shared objective was ensuring that Kurds can determine their administrative future within a unified Syria.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Abdi\u2019s participation in the Munich Security Conference comes amid ongoing diplomatic efforts involving regional and international stakeholders addressing Syria\u2019s political future and security arrangements in the country\u2019s north and east.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>By Atoun Jan<\/strong><\/h2>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>QAMISHLI, Syria (North Press) \u2013 The General Commander of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), Mazloum Abdi, said on Sunday that Kurds in northeast Syria seek a decentralized form of local governance within a unified Syrian state, emphasizing that administrative self-management remains their primary demand regardless of terminology. Abdi\u2019s remarks came during responses to questions from [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":135591,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pgc_sgb_lightbox_settings":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[39,3,2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-135590","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-home","category-politics","category-syria"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>SDF commander calls for decentralized local governance in Syria<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"QAMISHLI, Syria (North Press) \u2013 The General Commander of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), Mazloum Abdi, said on Sunday that Kurds in northeast Syria\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, 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