Start of the forum and the opening speech of the forum
Start of the forum and the opening speech of the forum
The Syrian Forum for National Dialogue Towards a Free, Pluralistic and Democratic Syria began with welcoming the participants in the forum. Then, a speech was given by the Rojava Center for Strategic Studies, delivered by… Luqman Abdullah. The speech focused on the unity of the Syrian people, the cultural fabric and historical legacy of the Syrian people, and what they were exposed to during the era of the former regime. The speech indicated that this forum would be a new start towards achieving freedom, democracy and justice for all segments of the Syrian people, and protecting Syria from dispersion and division, within the framework of a free, democratic, pluralistic system of government that preserves the rights and dignity of the Syrian citizen.
Text of the center’s speech
Dear ladies and gentelmen
Greetings and welcome
In the name of the Rojava Center for Strategic Studies, we welcome you all and express our thanks for taking the trouble and suffering of traveling from all over Syria to attend this forum.
There is no doubt that we are going through a sensitive phase in the history of our homeland, Syria, accompanied by rapid changes that put the future of the country at stake in light of regional and international interventions that are subordinate to special interests and agendas; the main goal of which is to benefit from Syria’s geopolitical location and invest its resources without any consideration for the Syrian people with their various spectra, categories and cultures. Therefore, we found it our national duty to hold this forum in response to the urgent call to draw the features and nature of the relationship between the Syrian spectra without marginalization or exclusion, or imposing guardianship over the structure of the complex and deep-rooted Syrian fabric in the context of the region’s civilizational history and the cultural heritage that constitutes the Syrian state.
After the fall of the Baath regime on December 8, the era of tyranny, oppression and monopoly of power ended, as a result of which the Syrian people suffered the worst types of injustice, poverty, humiliation and racial discrimination. A new day and a new spring began for the people of Syria who yearned for freedom. However, this joy of the Syrian people did not last long; rather, it quickly turned into dark clouds; the “Victory Conference” and then the “National Dialogue Conference” that were held in Damascus, without consulting or taking into account the opinions of the original components and the general Syrian people, is considered a unilateral step that raised concerns and fears of excluding and marginalizing the components of the Syrian people once again, and raised fears that the country would move towards a centralized, nationalist, religious system and monopoly of power; this would complicate matters more and more, and return Syria to what it was before.
Ladies and gentlemen
Recently, many conferences and meetings have been held in several Arab and European countries, and there have been many discussions and deals about the future of Syria and the fate of its components. What is striking in this matter is that the Syrians, the Syrian society and its components are absent or absent from these meetings that are held abroad. Here, it becomes clear to us, and clearly, that each country is trying to draw the features of the new Syria according to its interests.
Our presence here today expresses the extent of our commitment to the fate and future of Syria, and our keenness to thwart the opportunity for those who are lying in wait for the country in order to strike at civil peace and national unity. The Syrian people struggled against the policies of the defunct regime of oppression and humiliation and attempts to spread sectarian and ethnic strife among the sons of one homeland. The Syrian people, with their various sects and components, who have awakened with tens of thousands of their sons, are more deserving of meeting and planning the future of the new Syria to be a free, democratic pluralism that preserves the dignity of the individual and society, and in which every citizen has a place regardless of ethnic, sectarian and intellectual affiliations, so that competence is the deciding factor and standard in the new Syria.
Dear participants,
The history of the world is full of examples of the collapse of regimes and their rebuilding with the participation of peoples yearning for freedom, starting from Africa, Iraq, Yemen, Sudan, Libya and others. But what concerns us here is to draw lessons and morals from these experiences in order to build a new, prosperous future, through dialogue and consultation between the various components and spectrums of the Syrian people to choose the best model for governing their country in a manner that is consistent with the structure and diversity of Syrian society. Unfortunately, we are facing an approach that excludes the will of the Syrian people and the local democracies that have been formed over the past ten years, fuels conflicts and threatens social peace again. This is what hinders the political process, and we cannot accept the revival of the authoritarian mentality after the sacrifices made over thirteen years of struggle
Dear participants, representatives of Syria.
In this Syrian Dialogue Forum, we will discuss in the first axis the crises of the centralized, oppressive, authoritarian, and totalitarian regime and its consequences, which were established under the Sykes-Picot Agreement, and the crises and problems that resulted from it under the Baathist regime, and how to overcome them. As for the second axis, we will discuss the aspirations of the Syrian people in choosing the form of the regime and the new constitution that embraces all components and cultures. We will also address the importance and role of social cohesion and solidarity and the form of the hoped-for national conference to resolve the outstanding issues in Syria.
Once again, we welcome all the honorable guests, and we hope that this forum will constitute a new start towards achieving freedom, democracy, and justice for all segments of the Syrian people and protecting Syria from fragmentation and division, within the framework of a free, democratic, pluralistic system of government that preserves the rights and dignity of the Syrian citizen.
Rojava Center for Strategic Studies
