Syria’s interim president called on Tuesday for unity and the rebuilding of his fractured nation during a two-day conference meant to chart a path forward after decades of dictatorship.
Hundreds of participants attended the long-awaited “national dialogue” to bring together the country’s many religions and sects in the Syrian capital, Damascus, on Monday and Tuesday. But at least one major player was absent: The Kurdish-led militia that controls much of Syria’s northeast was not invited.
“Syria calls on you to stand together in unity and cooperation to heal its wounds, soothe its pain and support its recovery,” the president, Ahmed al-Shara, said in an address to conference participants.
The conference on Tuesday released a list of 18 recommendations to the new government, all of which appeared to be nonbinding. They covered an array of issues ranging from drafting a new Syrian constitution to bringing all arms under the state’s control and resurrecting the country’s ailing economy.
Notably, the closing statement also condemned the Israeli military’s incursion into southern Syria in the wake of the longtime dictator Bashar al-Assad’s downfall. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday that Israel would not allow the presence of armed forces attached to Syria’s new rulers in the country’s south, which the conference rejected. It remains unclear, however, how Syria’s leadership will respond to the demand.
What is the national dialogue?
Arab and Western leaders have urged Syria’s new rulers to establish a representative government that is inclusive of all religious sects and ethnic groups before they can fully restore ties with Syria.
Mr. al-Shara, whose rebel coalition overthrew Mr. al-Assad and seized control of Syria in early December, had promised to hold a national dialogue to discuss the formation of such a government.
Syrian leaders have promoted the conference as the first step to drafting a new constitution for the country, which is likely to be a long-winded process that Mr. al-Shara has said could take as long as three years.
While the conference was long awaited — especially since the government had set a March 1 deadline to begin the process of forming a representative government — it was hastily arranged.
Invitations for the conference were sent out on Feb. 23, just one day before it began, to hundreds of participants, including community leaders, academics and religious figures.
Journalists, businessmen, activists, former detainees and some of the families of those who were killed or wounded in Syria’s 13-year civil war were also invited.
What about the Kurds?
Mr. al-Shara has spoken of the need to unite Syria’s many diverse groups to build a new nation. Syria is a Sunni-Muslim majority country, but has many religious and ethnic minorities including Alawites, Druse, Christians and Kurds.
Many in Syria, however, remain skeptical of the country’s new Islamist leaders, with some criticizing the lack of minority representation at the conference.
Attempts to unify all of these communities have already met significant challenges.
Some Kurds, who make up about 10 percent of Syria’s population, were invited to the national dialogue. But the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces, a U.S.-backed militia that controls much of Syria’s northeast, was not. Syria’s interim government has demanded that the militia disarm, and join a unified national military force, as a condition of joining the dialogue.
At the conference on Tuesday, Mr. al-Shara reaffirmed the need to bring the country’s web of armed groups under state control.
“There are those who seek to undermine the achievements of the Syrian people, and we must firmly confront anyone who attempts to tamper with our security and unity,” he said, without naming any particular group.
In the list of recommendations released on Tuesday, the participants reaffirmed that Syria must have “sovereignty over all its territories” and rejected any notion that the country could be fragmented, according to a statement. Although the statement did not single out the Kurds directly, it poured more cold water on ambitions by the Kurdish-led administration in Syria’s northeast to retain a degree of autonomy.
The committee organizing the conference has previously said that the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces do not represent all Syrian Kurds.
Turkey, a close ally of Mr. al-Shara’s rebel group, has for years sought to curb the power of the Syrian Democratic Forces, maintaining that the militia is linked to Kurdish separatist insurgents inside Turkey.
What will come of the dialogue?
Many Syrians are skeptical about what a national dialogue may bring, especially in a deeply divided country where sectarian tensions are already spilling over into revenge killings.
Syrians are also wary of the promises of inclusivity coming from a government led by Mr. al-Shara’s Islamist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, which has given government and ministerial positions to its own loyalists. It has yet to include other rebel groups, which helped oust Mr. al-Assad, in the government.
The conference organizers have said that there is no direct link between the formation of the new Syrian government and the dialogue, though they are happening at the same time.
