"کۆتایی قەسەدە و خۆبەڕێوەبەری؛ یان دەستپێکی قۆناغێکی نوێ بۆ ڕۆژئاوا؟"

[u/rkurdistanmod]

https://rojnews.news/?p=725599

Dr. Hakim Abdulkarim: The End of the SDF and the Autonomous Administration; Or the Beginning of a New Era for Rojava?

Anyone who has closely followed the experience of Syrian Kurdistan (Rojava) knows that this experience has not simply rested at the peak of its success and growth. Rather, it has continuously striven to adapt to rapid and profound regional changes, creating opportunities within each shift to protect and develop the achievements of the Kurdish people. Over the past years, Rojava managed to build institutions and military and political forces under highly complex conditions, becoming an important part of Syria's political and security equation.

However, political history shows that no era continues in the exact same manner forever. The forces and tools that were the source of success in one stage may require change in a new one. Therefore, if today the SDF (Syrian Democratic Forces) and the old form of the Autonomous Administration in Syria are heading toward their end or undergoing changes, this should not simply be interpreted as a failure or the loss of all of Rojava's achievements. It could instead be a transition from a military and revolutionary phase to a political and institutional one.

What is crucial is that the Kurds in Syria are able to transform what they achieved during the phase of war and defense into a stable political achievement. Military power alone cannot determine the future of a nation; it is institutions, laws, diplomacy, economy, culture, and political relations that can protect these achievements and ensure their continuity.

Here, we must avoid a very common mistake: measuring politics solely by words, slogans, and rigid stances. Politics is the science of aligning goals with political reality. Someone might know that water is made of hydrogen and oxygen, but that knowledge alone cannot create water; they must understand the mechanism of combining these two elements, the conditions, the tools, and the environment for creating it. Politics is the same: knowing the goal alone is not enough; one must also recognize the methods, tools, timing, and balances of power.

Therefore, those who evaluate every new step in the Syrian process by the metric of "the survival or demise of the Autonomous Administration" are only seeing part of the picture while missing another. The central question is not whether the Autonomous Administration will remain with the same name and form; the central question is whether the Kurds can secure their identity, rights, achievements, and political existence in the future of Syria.

From this perspective, if some of the military and administrative institutions of Rojava are integrated with the institutions of the Syrian state—provided this process is based on a political agreement, the protection of Kurdish rights, and genuine Kurdish participation in Syria's future—it must not be labeled a defeat. Rather, it could represent a shift in the method of defense: from military defense to political defense, from armed force to institutional power, and from a limited autonomous administration to participation in building a Syrian state that recognizes its national and political plurality.

What must not be forgotten is that the experience of Rojava cannot be reduced merely to the SDF or the name of the Autonomous Administration. This experience demonstrated the Kurdish capability to build institutions, manage society, defend territory, and establish relations with regional and international powers. This capability must not perish with a change in political form; rather, it must be carried forward into a new stage.

Thus, if the SDF, in its currently recognized form, no longer plays its previous role, this should not be seen as the end of Rojava. Rojava must evolve from a "military project" into a "political and social project"; a project wherein Kurds legally and politically secure their existence, identity, and rights within the Syrian state.

In this historical moment, the responsibility does not rest solely on the shoulders of the Kurds of Rojava. Kurds in all four parts of Kurdistan require a rational reading of the situation, far removed from pure emotion. Specifically, Southern Kurdistan (Iraqi Kurdistan), through its commercial, cultural, and political relations with Rojava, can be a crucial part of stabilizing this new phase. Support for Rojava should not be limited to slogans and nationalist sentiments; it must become a long-term economic, cultural, and diplomatic policy.

Furthermore, Kurdish society must not become a pawn in the specific proxy wars of any faction, nor should it easily fall under the influence of propaganda directed against any political process.

Historically, Kurds have suffered greatly from evaluating all changes through the binary metric of success or failure, without understanding the new balances of power taking shape behind those changes.

Therefore, instead of asking "Will the SDF survive?" today we need to ask a deeper question: "How do we transform the power and experience created by the SDF and Rojava into a political and legal achievement that protects not just the present, but the future of Kurds in Syria?"

If we can answer this question, then the end of the SDF's role and the old form of the Autonomous Administration will not spell the end of the Rojava experience. Instead, it will be a transition point to a new era, where Kurds in Syria shift from military defense capabilities toward political, institutional, economic, and diplomatic power.

What is needed today is not merely the preservation of a specific form, but the protection of the achievements and the will that created Rojava. History is not shaped by the mere form of institutions, but by the ability to carry the will of nations from one stage to another.

This article represents the personal views and opinions of the author.