Who We Are

The Rojava Center for Strategic Studies is an independent, non-profit institution. NRLS was founded in Qamishlo on 12 December 2012, and opened offices in Afrin on 22 December 2012 and Hasakah on 28 June 2016. The Afrin branch was closed following the Turkish state’s invasion and occupation of the Afrin region in early 2018.

NRLS comprises seven departments: Studies, Political Analysis, Media, Diplomatic Relations, Translation, Archive and Surveys.

NRLS’ work includes:

• Conducting the 2014 and 2016 censuses on behalf of the Autonomous Administration
• Drafting the ‘Social Contract’ for the Autonomous Administration, codifying the legal and ethical principles through which North East Syria is governed
• Mapping the borders of Rojava and later North East Syria
• Organising the 2018 International Forum on Ethnic Cleansing and Forced Demographic Change in Afrin
• Setting up workshops and specialised committees to follow political, military, security, economic and social developments in the world, Middle East, the Kurdistan region and West Kurdistan (Rojava) in particular
• Conducting periodic research and survey questionnaires with the aim of identifying problems, issues, obstacles and threats, as perceived by the society of North East Syria
• Analysing this data and extracting outcomes to obtain future-oriented views on the strategic level, and sharing these with the relevant authorities
• Organising forums, seminars and lectures, and publishing research papers