Kurdish National Council Presidency Meets Mazloum Abdi on Anniversary of Qamishlo Conference

ERBIL (Kurdistan24) - One year after a landmark conference in Qamishlo brought together nearly 50 Kurdish political parties and set the foundations for a unified Kurdish position in post-Assad Syria, the leadership of the Kurdish National Council in Syria (KNCS) convened with Mazlum Abdi, commander of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), to advance what remains an unfinished political project.

Faisal Yusuf, spokesperson for the KNCS, told Kurdistan24 that the meeting was dedicated to exploring clear mechanisms for unifying the Kurdish position in the wake of the Jan. 29 agreement between the Syrian government and the SDF. 

The session included deep discussions that were left open for follow-up meetings, with the aim of developing a practical formula that would avoid repeating the failures of previous agreements between the KNCS and the Democratic Union Party (PYD).

The KNCS presidency reaffirmed its commitment to the shared Kurdish political vision endorsed at the April 2025 conference, stressing the necessity of capitalizing on the current political moment to forge a genuine Kurdish partnership — one that guarantees Kurdish representation across the institutions of the future Syrian state, from service and productive bodies through to the People's Assembly.

The conference that set the standard

The meeting took place on the first anniversary of the Kurdish Unity and Solidarity Conference, which was held in Qamishlo on April 26, 2025. 

That conference is widely regarded as one of the most significant gatherings in the modern political history of Syrian Kurds. One year later, the central challenge remains the persistent gap between declared intentions and practical mechanisms, notably reflected in the fact that the Syrian government has yet to receive a unified Kurdish delegation.

Approximately 400 figures participated in the original conference, representing not only Western Kurdistan but also broader Syrian Kurdish communities from Aleppo, Damascus, Azaz, Hama, and al-Bab, as well as delegates from other parts of Kurdistan.

The KNCS and the PYD served as the principal actors, each delegating 130 members. The event was held with the support of Kurdistan Region President Masoud Barzani, whose envoy Dr. Hamid Darbandi attended and declared that April 26 must serve as "a foundational moment toward Kurdish national unity.

" A delegation from Türkiye's Peoples' Equality and Democracy Party and representatives of the Democratic Regions Party also participated, as did Kurdish politicians from northern Kurdistan, underscoring the pan-Kurdish dimension of the gathering.

The conference concluded with the adoption of a joint Kurdish political document and a resolution to form a unified Kurdish delegation tasked with negotiating with Damascus. 

The document called for recognition of Syria as a multiethnic, multicultural, and multireligious state; a decentralized governance model ensuring fair distribution of power and wealth; full constitutional equality between men and women; recognition of the Kurdish language as an official language alongside Arabic; and the reversal of demographic engineering policies imposed under previous regimes.

KNCS head Muhammed Ismail, reading the final communique, declared that the document was intended "to serve as the basis for Kurdish political dialogue among themselves and with the new administration in Damascus, as well as with other Syrian national forces" — a commitment to building a Syria that guarantees rights and dignity for all its components without exclusion or discrimination.

The Jan. 29 agreement between Damascus and the SDF has shifted the political ground, creating new urgency around the question of how Kurds will engage with Syria's transitional process and what institutional form their collective representation will take. 

Sunday's meeting between the KNCS presidency and Mazlum Abdi was framed explicitly around that question — how to move from a shared document to a functioning political partnership capable of securing Kurdish rights in practice.

The specter of previous failed agreements between the KNCS and the PYD loomed over the discussions. 

Kurdish political unity in Syria has historically been declared more often than it has been sustained, and both sides acknowledged the need for a formula that builds in the structural safeguards earlier agreements lacked. The discussions were described as substantive but inconclusive, with further sessions scheduled to continue the work.

What is clear is that the window the April 2025 conference sought to open has not yet been fully entered. With Syria's political transition accelerating and the question of Kurdish constitutional recognition still unresolved, the outcome of these follow-up meetings may determine whether the Qamishlo moment becomes a turning point — or another entry in a long list of missed opportunities.