Important political, diplomatic turning points in north of Syria during 2018

Important political, diplomatic turning points in north of Syria during 2018.
During 2018, the Syrian north witnessed remarkable political developments. The most prominent of these were convening of the third Conference of the Syrian Democratic Council(MSD), the start of negotiations with the Syrian regime, the formation of the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria and the efforts exerted to unite the opposition in the vision of a unified project within the Syrian dialogue - The Democratic Society Movement held its third conference, the announcement of a new p

AHMED MOHAMMED /NEWS DESK

During the panorama of 2018 we present the most important turning points and events in the north and east of Syria in terms of political organization and diplomatic mobility in the framework of efforts to resolve the crisis in Syria, including:

Restructuring of MSD in its third conference

On  July 16- 2018, the Syrian Democratic Council(MSD) held its third conference, resulting in several organizational amendments, including the election of Amina Omar and Riyad al-Derdar as co-chairs, the election of 41 members of the Presidential Council. Coordinating committees for the management of the northern regions of Syria, as well as the formation of an executive body to manage the council.

Launching of negotiations between MSD and the Syrian regime

MSD based on an appeal and a request from the regime, and from the principle of resolving the Syrian crisis through the Syrian-Syrian dialogue, which MSD believes unconditionally, negotiations between the Syrian regime and MSD on 26 August 2018, dialogue between the two sides started.

Announcement of Autonomous Administration of North and East  Syria

Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria was formed on September 6, 2018, following a meeting of MSD in Ain Issa, in which the local and civil administrations and local councils participated in the north and east of Syria, based on decisions made at the last council meeting on 16 July of the same year , and after its first founding meeting was able to form nine main committees, bringing together the 7 committees in the regions of northern Syria.

MSD seeks to unite the opposition through the Syrian-Syrian dialogue

In the framework of the Syrian-Syrian dialogue, MSD held two separate meetings on 18 July and 27 November 2018. In an attempt to unite the opposition and unify political visions to resolve the Syrian crisis, the first forum resulted in the formation of a follow-up committee to coordinate and communicate with all national forces to reach future meetings to serve the project of resolving the Syrian crisis, and the second forum resulted in decisions were the most important "the need for a political solution in a manner that ensures the participation of all Syrians in the constitutional committee and the political process, and the exit of the Turkish occupation and its mercenaries from Syrian territory.

Afrin victim of foreign political interests in Syria

20 January 2018 the Russian-Turkish agreement on Afrin and the extent of coordination between the two sides appeared , according to deals and concessions from Turkey in the service of Russia and the regime to clean the southern and central regions of the opposition factions and mercenaries backed by them in exchange for the occupation of Afrin, in order to delay the solution in Syria, which led to the occupation of the Turkish army and its mercenaries to the city of Afrin on 18 March.

New structure of TEV_DEM system to support and strengthen the management more

On 27 August 2018, the third Conference of the Democratic Society Movement (TEV-DEM) was held with the participation of 500 members of the movement and representatives of civil councils, political parties, and social organizations in Rojava and north-east of Syria, a joint presidency was elected and 64 members of the Administrative Council, the conference resulted in allocating the work of the movement in organizing all segments of society through civil society institutions.

Announcement of the formation of the Future Syria Party

On March 27, 2018, the founding conference of the Future Syria Party was held in the city of al-Raqqa, during which Ibrahim al-Qaftan was elected as head of the party and Hevrin Khalaf was appointed as Secretary-General of the Party.

The convening of the Second General Syriac Union Conference

The Syriac Union Party held its second general conference on  June 1- 2018, during which the necessity of relying on the Syrian people to resolve the Syrian crisis was reaffirmed. It was restructured by the election of 21 members as the party's council in addition to electing the joint presidency for the party.

Expansion of diplomatic territory

The Syrian north witnessed in 2018 intensive diplomatic visits compared to previous years at the international and regional levels. Most of the visits focused on knowledge of the current regime in the north of Syria, how to work in the circumstances of Syria's battles, and the Turkish occupation and mercenaries to the areas of Autonomous Administration in the north and east of Syria, and we will mention the most important

 A British delegation on 4 January 2018, composed of parliamentarians, lasted for a week.

Visit of a representative of the French Foreign Ministry "Tamim Zawi" on 17 January and 13 July 2018.

The delegation of the Parliament of the Kurdistan Region of Iraq on 15 February 2018, lasted for 5 days.

 Visit of former US Ambassador Peter Calabresi on 10 April 2018.

 23 May 2018 visit of an Italian delegation of political activists, which lasted for 16 days.

May 28, 2018 a visit to a delegation of German parliamentarians lasted for five days.

 US State Department Representative William Robak's visit on 7 August 2018, which is a regular visit through the International Alliance to fight IS.

 A delegation from the European-French Directory Foundation on October 1, 2018, lasted for a week.

A delegation of Belgian doctors, on 16 October 2018, continued for a week.

Visit of US Representative to the International Coalition William Robak and Max Martin, on 7 November 2018.

A delegation from the International Red Cross on 20 November and 6 December 2018, composed of Marian Kasr, Director of the Red Cross of Syria and members of the Cross, lasted for one day.

Visit of US Congressman Thomas Alexander Garrett with members of Burma's Liberal International Organization on November 23, 2018, lasted for a week.

And the visit of Bernard Kouchner, former French Prime Minister on 1 December 2018, lasted for 3 days.

On 29 March 2018, a delegation of Autonomous Administration in northern Syria met with French President Emmanuel Macron and the French Foreign Ministry.

A.H

ANHA