Concluding statement of the forum on

On July 6-7, the Rojava Center for Strategic Studies held an international forum under the title “The Treaty of Lausanne: Correcting courses – stability – regional security” that discussed the centenary of the Treaty of Lausanne with the participation of 200 people representing political parties, academics, women’s movements, civil society organizations, intellectuals, activists and jurists from Rojava (north and east Syria), the four parts of Kurdistan, Russia, Arab countries, and international personalities. The participants emphasized that the Treaty of Lausanne, which was called the Peace Agreement, did not bring peace or stability to the peoples of the region, but rather gave legitimacy to the extermination of peoples and cultures, and that it is tantamount to declaring war with the nation-states it created. This treaty paved the way for many security agreements between the countries of the region that targeted the existence of the Kurdish people and other identities and cultures in the region through national assimilation, demographic change, political terrorism, and falsification of historical facts. The political, economic and security crises in the region are only a result of the policies that relied on this treaty for purposes related to the consolidation and perpetuation of tyrannical power, the monopoly of wealth, and the extermination of indigenous peoples in the region.

On this basis, the participants in the forum reached a set of recommendations and demands that would solve the Kurdish issue and correct the paths of security and regional peace:

• Emphasizing that the Treaty of Lausanne did not achieve peace and regional stability with the centenary of its signing, and the sponsoring countries of this treaty must correct its path and address the problems that resulted from it, and stop their support for the regimes that harness this treaty to serve their own interests and derive the strength of their persecution of the Kurdish people from these sponsoring countries.
• Based on the human rights charters and the Charter of the United Nations, the countries that influence international politics and that affirm their commitment to those charters must recognize the Kurdish cause and guarantee the right of the Kurdish people to self-manage their political, cultural, economic, social and security affairs within the framework of a national pact with the countries that share the geography of Kurdistan.
• The Kurdish forces must coordinate and consolidate their political, economic and military energies in order to achieve the self-protection of the Kurdish people from the systematic genocide they are subjected to. This is what imposes a national pact for the Kurds, to which all parties adhere, regardless of the political intellectual differences that each party follows, and this is what imposes holding a Kurdish national conference as soon as possible.
• The Kurdish people are an indigenous people who live on their historical land, so it is imperative for the countries that share the geography of Kurdistan to reconsider their policies towards the Kurds, and to recognize the Kurds’ right to life and to democratic self-administration or democratic federalism to manage their affairs within the framework of the geography of the countries in which they reside.
• The democratic nation as a thought and philosophy embodied in the Autonomous Administration has proven itself as a possible solution to the issue of regional peace and the protection of the ancient cultures in the region from terrorist extremism and the liberation of human being from its constraints, by living its experience in northeastern Syria under the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria.
• Emphasizing the necessity and international recognition of the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria, which derives its legal and moral legitimacy through its service, political, and military institutions, in accordance with public international law.
• The continuation of the fascist attacks on the Kurdish people in the four parts of Kurdistan is a continuation of the Treaty of Lausanne, which legitimized the killing and displacement of the Kurdish people at the hands of the unilateral nation-states.
• Explaining to the participants that the enemies of peoples do not abide by any international laws or treaties. Therefore, the participants in the forum call on the international powers to put in place a mechanism to compel them to abide by these international laws and treaties.
• Emphasizing that reliance on people’s own strength is the only way to bypass the repercussions of the Treaty of Lausanne and avoid new unjust treaties against the peoples of the region.
• Therefore, the participants in the forum demand that the international community, with all its concerned bodies, be put before its responsibilities regarding the policies of marginalization, denial and genocide that are being committed against peoples. They also call on the human rights committees and the relevant authorities in northern and eastern Syria to follow up on the recommendations of the forum with the concerned international bodies.

Participants of the forum

Syria, Hasakah, July 7, 2023