ERBIL (Iraq) (Pakistan Point news / Sputnik - 03rd March, 2019) Kurds, during the work of the Syrian constitutional committee, will push for change of the Syrian Arab Republic's name, so that it would not contain any national or religious affiliation, a Kurdish delegate to the Erbil forum on security and sovereignty in the middle East told Sputnik.
"In particular, the country's official name � the Syrian Arab Republic � should be changed to the 'Republic of Syria,' without mentioning any specific national or religious affiliation. In addition, a new system for Syria should be based on democratic principles and be decentralized, as proposed by the Syrian Democratic Council," the Kurdish delegate said.
The Kurdish-dominated Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) and its political wing, the Syrian Democratic Council, with the US-led international coalition's support, control huge swathes of the Syrian territory to the east of Euphrates. The Kurds proclaimed the Democratic Federation of Northern Syria (DFNS) in the region, which is recognized by neither Damascus nor the world community.
The creation of the committee, which will be tasked with rewriting Syria's main law, was agreed upon during the Syrian National Dialogue Congress in the Russian resort city of Sochi in January 2018. The body is expected to include the representatives of the Syrian government, opposition and civil society.
In February, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov said that the final lists of the committee's members were still being agreed upon, with the United Nations seeking to replace six candidacies. The deputy minister expressed hope that the process of drafting the lists would be finalized as soon as possible.
