This week the Wilson Center, the US congressionally funded bi-partisan think tank, hosted Amy Austin Holmes for a discussion about her book, “Statelet of Survivors, The Making of a Semi-Autonomous Region in Northeast Syria.” The book is based on nearly a decade of field work and research about the Autonomous Administration project and the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF). Holmes’ research includes the only demographic survey of the SDF. The survey was completed by over 400 members of the SDF and it was offered in Arabic, Kurdish and Turkish. The survey results demonstrate that the SDF has expanded to be an Arab majority force and that it includes all ethnic groups in the region, as well as all tribal groups.
Holmes discussed the sacrifices of the SDF in defeating ISIS, and that this is well known in Washington. She stressed however that this is just half the story of the AANES. Much less well known is the other side of the story, the innovations of women’s liberation and autonomous governance in the area, during the defeat of ISIS and despite all odds.
She also discussed that in the course of her research many respondents in the region referred to their family roots in Anatolia, dating back to before the fall of the Ottoman empire. After extensive research on this history, she suggested that some of the origins of the solidarity among people in the AANES project lay in Kurdish-Armenian-Assyrian-Syriac cooperation dating back to the fall of the Ottoman Empire and the rebellions that led to the creation of the Mount Ararat republic.
Ms. Sinam Sherkany Mohamed and Mr. Bassam Said Ishak of the Syrian Democratic Council office in Washington DC were in attendance. Mohamed asked Holmes to address why the United States, which shares democratic values with the autonomous administration, focuses their policy exclusively on defeating ISIS. Holmes states that this narrow focus doesn’t seem to make sense, as the United States should support a home-grown democracy system in Syria.
She mentioned that there are many international and US policies that can be used to make the case for support of the AANES. These include UNSCR 1325 on Women, Peace and Security, the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People’s, the Elie Wiesel Atrocity and Prevention Act, and the Civilian Harm and Mitigation Response Action Plan. In addition, she pointed out that the AANES is no longer under US sanctions after the passage of the Office of Foreign Assets Controls General License 22, but few people in the US are aware of this, and are perhaps over-compliant with sanctions laws in order to avoid scrutiny.
She argued that as Russia slightly disengages from Syria to fight its war in Ukraine, and pursue other geo-political interests in Africa and Libya, this presents an opportunity for the US to re-engage in Syria, and re-prioritize it on their agenda. On the other hand, the AANES could also focus its efforts on other members of the Global Coalition to defeat ISIS, who might be more willing to re-evaluate their relationships and political support for the AANES.
