YASA : Kurds recommend draft constitution for Syrian Kurdistan

Qehreman Abdulla – BasNews (Erbil): 23-12-2013 – The Kurdish Center for Studies and Legal Consultancy (YASA) has recommended a draft constitution for Syria’s Kurdish region.In November the Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD) announced that they would be forming an interim government in Syria’s Kurdish area. A number of Kurdish parties have criticized the move, accusing them of acting unilaterally.

The project has been named Draft Constitution of Kurdistan region- Syria, and was presented in a press Conference in Erbil. Regarding why the draft constitution was not presented in Qamishli (the largest Kurdish-inhabited city in Syria) the organization said: “it’s because of the uniqueness of Erbil and its important position among the Kurds.”  

YASA said that they would have considered Syria if there security situation there were not so fraught. While the Kurdish region has remained largely safe, the past five months have seen a spike in violence between the People’s Protection Units (YPG) and Islamic extremists.  

In terms of Syrian president Bashar al-Assad’s reaction to the project, head of YASA Jalal Muhammad Amin said: “The Syrian government’s reaction is not important for us, because our draft is written for the future of Syrian Kurdistan, it’s for a post-Assad era.” The draft does not touch upon the issues of the Kurdish flag or national anthem; a long-standing conflict among Kurds. “Those are political issues, we all know that independence is every Kurds dream, but is the decision of the people not an organization,” Amin added.