Christian party rejects new Syrian constitution

Rudaw Net

14-03-2025

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ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - A Christian political party on Friday rejected the constitutional declaration adopted by the interim authority in Damascus, calling it a tool to entrench the 'exclusion and marginalization of Syrian components.'
'The constitutional declaration does not pave the way for the required transitional phase in Syria, but rather for an unstable period,' the Syriac Union Party said in a statement.
The party is affiliated with the Kurdish administration in northeast Syria (Rojava). It holds three seats in the Rojava government and maintains its own police force, Sutoro (meaning "security" in Syriac).
The interim constitution, which emphasizes Islamic jurisprudence, stipulates that Syria's president must be a Muslim and establishes a five-year transitional period. It also retains the country's official name, the Syrian Arab Republic, a point of contention for non-Arab communities.
During a ceremony on Thursday to sign the document, interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa expressed hope that it would mark 'a new chapter in Syria's history, one where ignorance is replaced with knowledge and oppression with justice.'
However, the Syriac Union Party contended that the constitutional declaration is a continuation of the policies adopted by the former Bashar al-Assad regime. The party said that the transitional phase 'must be based on the principles of true participation' of all ethnic and religious groups in Syria.
The main Kurdish groups and organizations also oppose the new constitution.
The Rojava administration condemned the document for 'mirroring measures imposed by the Assad regime and alienating Syria's diverse ethnic and religious communities.'
The Syrian Democratic Council (SDC), the political wing of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), declared their 'complete rejection' of any attempt to 'recreate dictatorship under the guise of a 'transitional phase,' reinforcing authoritarianism, granting unchecked power to the executive authority, and constraining political activity.'
An umbrella group of Kurdish opposition parties, the Kurdish National Council (ENKS/KNC), also voiced objections to the temporary constitution, stating that it 'ignored Syria's pluralistic nature and its reality as a multi-ethnic and multi-religious state.' They further argued that it 'failed to guarantee the national and religious rights of its communities, reinforcing a singular national identity in the state's name, explicitly excluding other components.'