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Widespread Criticism: "SDF" Rejects the Religious and Ethnic Character of the Constitutional Declaration
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The Autonomous Administration in North and East Syria views the constitutional declaration as reminiscent of the Ba'ath Party era and ignores the recognition of the country's diverse ethnic and religi
Following the approval of the interim Syrian transitional president, Ahmad al-Shar'a, of a constitutional declaration for the five-year transitional period during which he will hold executive power, the Syrian Democratic Council (SDF), the political umbrella of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), criticized the content of the declaration.
The Autonomous Administration in North and East Syria expressed its rejection of the constitutional declaration, considering it to "contradict Syria's diversity and includes clauses that resemble the era of the Ba'ath Party rule, which governed the country for decades" without recognizing any of the country's ethnic or religious groups in the constitution.
A senior official in the SDF stated that "the constitutional declaration brought nothing new, as it maintained the old approach, the Ba'ath Party’s approach, of excluding the other and marking Syria with a more defined religious and ethnic identity than before. This is not what we were hoping for," pointing to the absence of any mention of the Kurds, the second-largest ethnic group in the country.
Ali Rahmon, a member of the presidential council of the Syrian Democratic Council, emphasized to "Al Arabiya.net" that "the two most problematic points that do not reflect the aspirations of the Syrians and their political forces are the insistence on naming the state as the Syrian Arab Republic, while we were hoping Syria would be for all its citizens and peoples, regardless of their ethnicities and nationalities, thus we hoped it would be the Syrian Republic."
He continued, "The second point is the insistence that Islamic jurisprudence be the source of legislation, while we aspired and hoped that future Syria would be a civil state, a state of citizenship in which religion is separated from the state."
He pointed out that "the constitutional declaration restricted the presidency to Muslim citizens, which contradicts Article 6 that states all citizens have the same rights and duties. Thus, this right deprives many Syrians from reaching this position."
He concluded that "the constitutional text is tailored to fit al-Shar'a and does not reflect the aspirations and ambitions of the Syrian people," and emphasized that "Syrians face a great struggle to reach a constitution that fulfills the aspirations of all the people, in all its ethnic and religious components."
On her part, civil activist Najoud Bashir, from the predominantly Druze province of Sweida, considered that "the constitutional declaration is disappointing and denies Syria's diversity, reinforcing a system of individual rule," according to her claim.
She added, asking, "How can a president hold all the executive branches of the state, and appoint one-third of the parliament... where is the separation of powers?" She continued, "How can jurisprudence be the source of legislation... it is changeable, as jurisprudence is the opinions of jurists and therefore not fixed," according to her view.
It is worth mentioning that the interim Syrian president, Ahmad al-Shar'a, approved the draft of the constitutional declaration on Thursday, which had been prepared by a committee assigned to this task a week ago. The approval took place at the People's Palace in Damascus after a presentation by a member of the drafting committee, Abdelhamid al-Awak, of the key texts and chapters.
