ENKS criticizes removal of 'Rojava' from Syrian Kurdish administration title

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region (Kurdistan24) - Syria's Kurdish National Council (ENKS) criticized the decision of the PYD-led council (TEV-DEM) and their allies to drop the word 'Rojava' from the title of Syria's mainly Kurdish region's administration, ENKS head said on Saturday.

Speaking to Kurdistan24, Ibrahim Biro, head of the ENKS, said the decision to remove the Kurdish word 'Rojava' by the PYD and their allies means giving up on the national rights of the Kurds in Syria.

"Despite our [ENKS] differences with the PYD and their allies, we agreed on demanding Kurdish national rights in Syria. Including the word 'Rojava' in the official title of the proposed federal region in their first conference in March was aknwoledging the Kurdish national rights," he said.

"Dropping the word Rojava put a heavy burden on our shoulders in our struggle for the national rights of the Kurds in Syria," he added.

Biro further explained that the ENKS struggled against both the Syrian regime and the opposition for the rights of the Kurds.

"ENKS as part of the Syrian opposition had been in many debates with the spectra of the Syrian coalition on many points regarding the rights of the Kurds, but now we are in a critical situation," he said.

However, members of the council that were tasked with laying the groundwork for Syria's Kurdish-brokered proposed federal region said the move was for guaranteeing all rights of the other factions in northern Syria.

"Adopting the name 'Democratic Federal System of Northern Syria' opened the door for more allies to join our democratic experience and moreover gained the support of voices who were opposing our autonomous administration," said Aldar Khalil, head of the Democratic Society Movement (TEV-DEM).

On Wednesday, the groups of the three Kurdish-controlled regions held a conference in Syria's Kurdish-held northeastern town of Rmelan and agreed on dropping the word 'Rojava' (the Kurdish word for West, indicating Western Kurdistan) from the name of the proposed federal system of government that was adopted in March 2016.   

Syria's Kurdish National Council (ENKS), an umbrella body of Syrian Kurdish parties based in Erbil, was not included in the council that worked on the constitution draft of the federal system of northern Syria.

Editing by Ava Homa