Sussex academic delivers talk on Syrian peace talks at the European Parliament

Sussex academic delivers talk on Syrian peace talks at the European Parliament

Dr. Kamran Matin, senior lecturer in International Relations, delivered a talk on the role of the Syrian Kurds in the peaceful resolution of the civil war in Syria in the 13th international annual conference on The European Union, Turkey, Middle-East and The Kurds at the European Parliament on December 6. The conference was organised by European United Left/Nordic Green Left, European Parliamentary Group (GUE/NGL).

Kamran argued that Syrian Kurds’ project of ‘democratic confederalism’ provides the most feasible resolution to the conflict. Based on the basic principles of decentralisation, formal recognition of Syria’s ethno-religious diversity, gender equality, and bottom-up, local self-administration democratic confederalism addresses the root cause of the conflict and reduces the transaction cost of the implementation guarantees of a peace settlement by maximising the involvement of local actors, and minimising the individual ethnic and religious communities’ fear of re-rise of a unitary and centralised state that given the extremely heterogeneous nature of Syrian society can only rule through coercion.

Kamran’s presentation has already been published on NRTV ’s website. It will also appear in the conference compendium.

back to news list

By: Kamran Matin
Last updated: Wednesday, 28 December 2016