Marking a first in Syria's history, members of the Kurdish Progressive Party, opposition parties, and Syrian civil society representatives met last week in a political forum to discuss a variety of topics concerning the rights of Kurds in Syria. Tens of thousands of Kurds have been denied Syrian citizenship. The meeting touched on Syria’s potential for developing into a democratic nation. The participants of the forum agreed that the coexistence of Syrian Arabs and Kurds, who make up 11 percent of the Syria’s population, under a democratic umbrella, would not occur unless the Kurds were granted a measure of autonomy in the form of "local administrative rights". The speakers stressed that issues surrounding Syrian-Kurd relations must be resolved before true democracy can become a reality.
