The Syrian Kurdish unity conference was held in the city of Qamishli in northeast Syria. The event lasted around four hours, and in its final declaration, it adopted “decentralization” as the guiding principle for the future governance of Syria.

Context: The conference took place after years of rivalry and repeated delays between Syrian Kurdish factions, which are divided along the ideological lines of the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) and the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK). About 400 participants attended, including representatives from political parties as well as civil society organizations. However, contrary to earlier expectations, no delegation was formally established to negotiate with the Syrian government in Damascus.

Analysis: The mere fact that the conference was held after years of postponement renders it symbolically historic. The final declaration advocated for a “democratic, decentralized state.” However, the ambitions and scope of the conference were notably scaled back to ensure it could proceed — largely thanks to American mediation.

Despite this, the full document agreed upon — as reported by media outlets close to both the SDF and KDP — included a call for federalism, proposing the “unification of Kurdish regions into an integrated political-administrative unit within the framework of a federal Syria.” This highlights a clear discrepancy between the final declaration read aloud at the press conference and the written document later published by affiliated media.

It is possible, however, that — as some reports suggest — the real demand remains decentralization, but federalism was included in the written document as a maximalist opening position to be negotiated with Damascus, with the expectation of ultimately settling for decentralization.

Beyond this, two other notable points stand out in the demands: first, the call for the constitutional recognition of Kurdish as an official language; and second, the demand to “reverse the political consequences” of the Arab Belt project — language that closely mirrors the issues surrounding disputed territories in northern Iraq.

The final declaration also vaguely stated that “the conference decided to form a joint Kurdish delegation as soon as possible,” without offering a clear timeline or mechanism for doing so.

Several compromises were necessary to make the conference possible. For instance, the contentious issue of which flag should represent Syrian Kurds — a major point of division between pro-PKK and other factions — was carefully managed. Only four flags were displayed: the Kurdistan flag (associated with the KDP), the KCK flag (representing the umbrella organization of PKK-aligned groups), the Rojava flag, and the Syrian national flag. This symbolic compromise reflects the underlying divisions that persist.

Beyond this point, there are two other interesting points in the demands, which are recognition of Kurdish as an official language and demanding “reversing their political consequences” of the Arab belt, which reads in a way like the ongoing issues in disputed territories in northern Iraq.

The final declaration vaguely stated that “the conference decided to form a joint Kurdish delegation as soon as possible,” offering no clear timeline or mechanism for doing so.

The conference itself was brief. The first hour was devoted to speeches by SDF commander Mazloum Abdi, an envoy of KDP leader Masoud Barzani, representatives of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), and Turkey’s pro-Kurdish DEM Party. Actual negotiations and proceedings only began once the American representative arrived. Notably, no French delegation was present — an absence that suggests France’s influence over Syrian Kurdish affairs may sometimes be overstated, while the United States remains the only Western power capable of meaningfully influencing dynamics among rival Kurdish factions.

Importantly, the conference was intended to select a negotiating delegation to engage with Damascus and advocate for decentralization. However, the rushed nature of the event risks prolonging the process of forming that delegation, potentially delaying negotiations by months or longer. Nonetheless, it is worth noting that the SDF and the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria already maintain two separate delegations engaged in talks with the Syrian government regarding the future of the region. Progress on those fronts may continue independently of the Qamishli conference outcomes.