On March 30, 2017, during the course of the current negotiation round in Geneva, members of the Kurdish National Council issued the following:
PRESS RELEASE
The Kurdish National Council in Syria (KNC) has taken part in the Geneva negotiations as a member of the High Negotiations Committee (HNC) in order to achieve a political solution for Syria. It has continually sought a common policy with the High Negotiations Committee, and has striven for this policy to fulfill all Syrians’ hopes and to correspond to their aspirations. For this reason, the KNC’s representatives presented a document within the HNC and the negotiating delegation, intending to mutually submit this document to the UN Special Envoy, Mr. de Mistura. The paper requests the confirmation of the representation of Kurds in the negotiation process, in order to refute false reports claiming the opposite. Furthermore, the document presented by the KNC contains the demand to include the Kurdish Question and the question of other sections of Syria’s population into the agenda of the negotiations.
The demands formulated in the document have not obtained the HNC’s approval, however, as representatives of the National Coordination Committee for Democratic Change (NCC) and few other members of the HNC opposed it and persisted on leaving the Kurdish Question aside. This raises doubts as to the HNC’s credibility, in particular since it commited itself to uphold the national rights of the Kurds and those of other groups in Syria, like the Turkmens and the Assyrians, and to equally pursue the legal anchoring of these rights in the future Syrian constitution.
While we address our genuine gratitude towards those patriotic voices, who have supported our demands, and while we appreciate the opinions they have expressed, we refuse to accept ignorant political practices excluding others. In our view, more dialogue is needed, and we hence emphasise, that the continuation of our participation in the HNC’s meetings is pointless within the current round of negotiations. We therefore declare our suspension. Consequently, we will deem all resolutions taken and documents produced during our absence as non-binding.
Dr. Abdulhakim Bashar, member of the HNC
Fuad Aliko, member of the negotiation delegation
Hawas Sadoon, member of the advisory team
Capacity Buidling: Kurdischer Nationalrat in Syrien, March 2017