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The Memorandum of Understanding, Its Meaning, Objectives, and Fates
The first thing to be recorded as an advantage of the memorandum of understanding signed between People’s Will Party and the Syrian Democratic Council in Moscow last Monday, 31/8/2020, is that it was the product of a Syrian-Syrian dialogue without intermediaries, and that it provided an example of how two different Syrian parties can make mutual concessions through dialogue, without abandoning their principles, in order to reach common ground.
The Memorandum, therefore, proves that Syrians are truly able, when they have the political will, to reach intersections and understandings that solve their crisis and stop the suffering and disaster that have exhausted them and destroyed their country.
On the other hand, The Memorandum, with the items it contained, laid out what can be likened to an initial general vision of what the future Syria will look like. That is, it fixed constitutional proposals that both parties agreed upon. These proposals started from Syria's territorial integrity and the unity of its people, and built upon them common visions related to equal citizenship; social justice; resolving the Kurdish issue in the Syrian context; the question of democracy; the form of the state; the relationship between centralization, decentralization and the distribution of powers... and other issues.
One of the most prominent indications of the importance and impact of The Memorandum is the fierce attack it was subjected to even before the announcement of its items. This attack also included lies claiming that The Memorandum called for federalism, and other claims which are no more than unfounded rhetoric. Such an attack is understood and clear; because the extremists of all sides see themselves damaged by such an understanding for two clear reasons: The first is that this understanding constitutes a major step forward towards completing the representation of the Syrian parties which have been excluded from the political process, and the second reason, which is related to the first, is that The Memorandum constitutes an important step towards the full implementation of UNSC Resolution 2254.
In addition, the extremists, local, regional and international, no longer have cards to play with, except for pushing for new fighting between Syrians through the nationalist card after the effect of the sectarian card has been exhausted, and therefore this memorandum slams the door in their face and makes them lose this tool.
The profound goals of this memorandum of understanding are not limited to the search for concrete ways to represent the Syrian Democratic Council and the political forces in northeastern Syria within the political process, despite the importance of this goal, but it rather expands to be an initial contribution to forming a broad national political alignment that has a significant amount of commonalities, that allow its components to cooperate not only in the current stage, but also open the doors for future joint work.
As an outcome, the signing of this memorandum of understanding, in its content, the location of its signature, and the subsequent meeting with the Russian Foreign Ministry and the implications thereof, constitutes a significant turning point in the development of the Syrian crisis, and a basic foundation for reaching a political solution and fully implementing UNSCR 2254, and for achieving national democratic popular radical comprehensive change.
Kassioun Editorial, Issue No. 982, Sept. 7, 2020