Kurdistan Communities Union (KCK) Statement: The Democratic Nation Model Is The Solution For Syria

December 9, 2024

As a result of the developments in Syria in the last two weeks, the Baath regime has fallen, and the country has entered a new era. We hope that the new situation will lead to all the peoples of Syria living together freely and equally. For decades, the peoples of Syria have struggled hard for the creation of a democratic Syria and the development of a free, democratic, and equal life in Syria, and they have paid a high price for this cause. We are convinced that the Syrian people have the experience, consciousness, and wisdom to realize what they were aiming for for so many years. We hope that the longing of the Syrian people will be realized.

The collapse of the Baathist regime has once again proved what kind of an end the monist nation-state system will face. The nation-state system invented by capitalist modernity and exported to the Middle East is the main cause of the social problems that have been experienced in the Middle East in the past century, which have deepened and finally reached a dead end. The latest developments in the Middle East have once again clearly demonstrated that the nation-state model, which denies the differences, diversity, and pluralism in society and is based on monism, is the most contrary to human reality and the most harmful model for society. Rêber Apo¹ analyzed the reality of the monist nation-state model in depth, revealing the contradiction of this system to the essence of human beings and society. He pointed out that society can no longer tolerate this system and that it will inevitably be overcome. This will pave the way for democratic transformation in the Middle East. The developments in Syria have endorsed this historical analysis of Rêber Apo. Despite all the developments in Syria throughout the last 14 years, the Baath regime failed to assess this reality; instead, it insisted on the monist nation-state system, did not start a democratic transformation, and ultimately has found its end.

As the KCK, we are in a constant effort to overcome the monist nation-state system in Syria and to develop democratic transformation. We have repeatedly conveyed this to the Syrian government. We have stated that the monist nation-state understanding should be abandoned in Syria and that steps should be taken to realize the democratic transformation that the country needs. We have attached great importance to this not being prolonged, for the peoples not to suffer more, and we have made intense efforts for this. The Kurdish people, through their struggle, have also desired the development of a democratic Syria and have developed the grounds for this. It is known that the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES) is making efforts for the democratization of Syria. However, the Baath regime insisted on the monist nation-state, as a result of which the crisis in Syria deepened, the solution to the problems was postponed, and the peoples suffered more.

The most fundamental thing that the Syrian peoples long for is the development of a democratic Syria. Within a democratic Syria, all peoples with their different languages, people of all kinds of beliefs, and all the diverse cultures can live together, equally and freely. This is the solution to the problems in Syria. Kurds, Arabs, Druze, Turkmens, Assyrians, Êzidîs (Yazidis), Armenians, Alawites, Sunnis, and all the different peoples in Syria can build a new life on this basis, live together freely and equally, and build a new Syria where everyone’s rights are recognized. The development of this in Syria will have a positive impact on the entire Middle East and contribute greatly to the democratization of the Middle East. The Kurdish people have demonstrated with their struggle that they are the most dynamic force for this. As the KCK, we will continue our stance and struggle for the development of the model of the democratic nation that envisions such a life and is based on pluralism, diversity, and the co-existence of diversity in unity. To underline this fact once again, the alternative to the monist nation-state model, which is the source of all problems, is the model of the democratic nation in which the equal, democratic, and free co-existence of all peoples is ensured.

In this regard, it is also necessary to underline that the freedom of society can only be achieved through the liberation of women. Women’s liberation expresses the essence and meaning of society itself. The new Syria to be created can only be democratic and free through the development of women’s freedom. There can be no compromise, no step back in the struggle for women’s liberation.

The Turkish state is the biggest obstacle in front of the democratic, free Syria that the peoples long for. In order to prevent the development of a democratic and free life in Syria, it has been attacking and occupying Syria for many years. Despite the fall of the Baath regime, the Turkish state has not abandoned this attitude. The Turkish state, just like the Baath regime, has a monist nation-state mentality. What they are trying to achieve through their attacks and aggression is to maintain the understanding of rule and the monist system itself in Syria. The Turkish state does not only aim to genocide the Kurds; it wants to prevent democratic transformation in Syria, to ensure the continuation of the monist nation-state system and the despotic understanding of governance, and to ensure that the peoples of Syria live under genocide. With this intention, the Turkish state has established the so-called Syrian National Army (SNA). It is both attacking Syria itself and carrying out attacks through the SNA. With this approach, the Turkish state threatens the unity and integrity of Syria and threatens the developments in Syria. All Syrian peoples and forces in favor of a new Syria, a united, democratic, and free Syria, must not accept this approach of the Turkish state and must resist the attacks of the Turkish state and the SNA. They must stand with the resistance of the Kurdish people and the peoples of North and East Syria.

We call on the democratic forces of the world to take a stance against the invading, genocidal attacks of the Turkish state, to stand with the resisting Kurdish people and the Syrian peoples, and to develop a strong solidarity attitude.

All the peoples of North and Eastern Syria, especially the Kurdish people, must continue to strengthen their resistance against the attacks of the Turkish state and the SNA acting on behalf of the Turkish state. Our peoples must organize on the basis of the strategy of the Revolutionary People’s War and form their self-defense. By organizing on this basis, the resistance and struggle of the peoples against all kinds of aggression will triumph.

With the struggle it has developed, the Kurdish people have made a great contribution and played a decisive role in overcoming the monist nation-state system and the despotic understanding of governance in the Middle East. If the ground has been laid for the development of a new and democratic Syria, the struggle developed by the Kurdish people has a decisive role in this. It has a share in the emergence of such a development not only in Syria but also in the Middle East. There can be neither a Syria nor a Middle East in which the reality and the rights of the Kurdish people are not recognized. The Kurdish people will have a place in the new Syria and the Middle East.

In this regard, we congratulate all the peoples of Syria. We are convinced that the peoples will create an equal, democratic, and free Syria together. We call on everyone to act on this basis.

Co-Presidency

KCK Executive Council

Footnote: