Îlham Ehmed (Arabic: إلهام أحمد), also rendered as Îlham Ahmed, is a Syrian politician from the Democratic Union Party[1] currently serving as the co-president of the Executive Council of the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (Rojava)[2][3] and member of the executive committee of the Movement for a Democratic Society (TEV-DEM) coalition.[4][5] Until July 2018, she was a co-chair of the Syrian Democratic Council (SDC),[6][5] a political wing of the Syrian Democratic Forces that acts as the legislature for Rojava.

Îlham Ehmed in 2013

Life and career

An ethnic Kurd born in Afrin,[7] Ehmed has been outspoken on the aim of a programmatically polyethnic character of a future Syria. At the start of the second Raqqa campaign in November 2016, she said:

Such an administration could provide a good example for democratic change in Raqqa, especially that the city has been for years a de facto capital for the ISIS terrorist group. This accomplishment would be a major change in the overall situation in Syria, and would help the country move towards stability, democratic change. Raqqa will be an example for the whole country.[8]

Having been involved with the Kurdish nationalist movement since the 1990s,[7] Ehmed seeks have a decentralized government in the form of a federalized Syria.[9] She claims that local civilian councils and governments would emerge in Syrian Kurdistan in such a decentralized state that guarantee the rights of different Syrian groups,[9] including freedom of speech, and gender equality.[9] She advocates for the rights of the Kurdish people to be guaranteed in the Syrian constitution.[9] Ehmed took part in negotiations with the Syrian government in Damascus concerning services that shall be provided also in the areas governed by the SDC in July 2018.[10] She has since repeatedly laid the blame for the failure of political talks on Damascus, stating:

The ruling regime has not changed its stance, not on the humanitarian or political levels. It has not shown any flexibility towards the Syrians who are at odds with it. It rejected channels of communication to address the aftermath of the earthquake and ensuing humanitarian catastrophe...They are the main obstacle in unifying the Syrian vision.[11]

Negotiations with France

After both Turkey's threat to attack Afrin and U.S. President Donald Trump's declaration that the United States would withdraw its troops from the territories governed by the SDC in December 2018, Ehmed travelled to Paris with SDC co-chair Riad Darar to talk with the French government about further cooperation with the French troops stationed in the areas governed by the SDC. French troops would remain in Syria following negotiations with France.[12]

References

  1. ↑ "Syrian Kurdish leader: Moscow wants to work with us". Al-Monitor. 8 October 2015.
  2. ↑ Fetah, Vîviyan (17 July 2018). "Îlham Ehmed: Dê rêxistinên me li Şamê jî ava bibin". www.rudaw.net (in Kurdish). Rudaw Media Network. Retrieved 29 September 2019.
  3. ↑ "مجلس سوريا الديمقراطية ينهي أعمال مؤتمره بإصدار البيان الختامي - ANHA" (in Arabic).
  4. ↑ "Executive Board of Democratic Syria Assembly elected". ANF. 13 December 2015.
  5. 1 2 "Can Syrian Democratic Council play unifier in postwar Syria?". Al-Monitor. 13 December 2016.
  6. ↑ "Ehmed: Nobody can question where the SDF will advance". Hawar News Agency. 22 February 2016. Archived from the original on 11 October 2017. Retrieved 29 November 2016.
  7. 1 2 "ILHAM AHMED, Executive President, Syrian Democratic Council" (PDF). docs.house.gov. October 23, 2019. Retrieved November 17, 2019.
  8. ↑ "Local civilian council to run post-ISIS Raqqa: Kurdish official". ARA news. 14 November 2016. Archived from the original on 19 October 2017. Retrieved 29 November 2016.
  9. 1 2 3 4 Seligman, Lara (24 October 2019). "Trump Wants U.S. Troops to Guard Syria's Oil. The Kurds May Not Welcome Them". Foreign Policy. Retrieved 2019-11-17.
  10. ↑ "Syrian Kurdish-backed council holds talks in Damascus". Reuters. July 27, 2018 – via www.reuters.com.
  11. ↑ "Ilham Ahmed to Asharq Al-Awsat: Giving Legitimacy to Syrian Regime Will Not Yield Political Solution". Asharq AL-awsat. Retrieved 2023-04-06.
  12. ↑ ProQuest 2159656113
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