The Situation of the Syrian Kurds in Post-Assad Syria

Abstract

The study examines the situation of the Syrian Kurds in Syria beginning in the 1970s and then analyses the domestic political developments triggered by the fall of Bashar al-Assad on 8 December 2024. These developments, as a result of which the Syrian Kurds lost a significant portion of the so-called Rojava region, as well as much of the political influence they had gained in shaping the country’s affairs through their role in the fight against the Islamic State. The report also examines the current political and security situation of the Syrian Kurds, the political and administrative system they have established over the past decade in northeastern Syria and their relations with the central government in Damascus.
The study argues that the current conflict is no longer primarily centered on the Syrian Kurds’ aspirations for independence, but rather on the question of Syria’s future state structure. While Damascus seeks to establish a unified and centralised state, the Kurdish leadership advocates the decentralisation of political and administrative powers, as well as institutional guarantees for the self-governing structures it has established. Against this backdrop, the study examines the prospects for a political compromise between the two sides and the future of Kurdish self-governance in Syria.