Kurdish mayor of Raqqa wins World Mayor Jury Award

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – Leila Mustapha, the Kurdish co-mayor of the Syrian city of Raqqa that once served as the capital of ISIS-occupied Syria, won the international World Mayor Jury Award on Tuesday.

The London-based City Mayors Foundation, which describes itself as “an international think tank dedicated to urban affairs,” has awarded its World Mayor Prize and Commendations since 2004. Every two years, the World Mayor Project features some of the world’s most outstanding mayors the group feels have distinguished themselves in their roles as local leaders.

This year’s World Mayor Prize was won by Ahmed Aboutaleb, who heads the Dutch city of Rotterdam, but Mustapha won one of the seven other awards of the 2021 World Mayor Project that seek to give international recognition to deserving mayors’ efforts.

The Raqqa Civil Council was formed with the support of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in April 2017, weeks before they launched the major operation to liberate Raqqa from ISIS in late 2017 with support of the US-led Coalition to Defeat ISIS.

Mustapha, a Kurd from Raqqa who previously co-headed the local council in Tal Abyad, has been co-chair, the equivalent of a co-mayor, of Raqqa since then, serving alongside the other co-chair, an ethnic Arab.

The Raqqa Civil Council says it is now focused on the daunting tasks of rebuilding a region heavily damaged in the conflict and providing services and security to its constituents.

According to the City Mayors Foundation, Mustapha’s tireless efforts to rebuild Raqqa was a primary factor in her selection to receive the honor.

“To understand Leila Mustapha’s achievements it is necessary to remember the context of Raqqa,” the website of the World Mayor award stated, calling Raqqa “a city virtually destroyed and devastated by ISIS, the US bombing and the war to evict ISIS.”

“Leila, a civil engineer in her 30s has been joint president of the Raqqa Civil Council (RCC), an assembly since its creation in 2017 just before Isis was defeated to re-build and restore the life of the City. Leila is a joint president with an Arab joint president,” read the organization’s award announcement. “A remarkable attempt to bring together diverse communities to work together.”

In 2019, Mustapha told Kurdistan 24, “When we first liberated Raqqa, it was a pile of mines and destruction. All the infrastructure was destroyed: education, health, humanitarian side.”

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“No place in the world has seen such destruction as Raqqa,” she continued. 

“With the efforts of the SDC [Syrian Democratic Council] and also the support from humanitarian organizations, we have achieved a big milestone.”