The Democratic Conservative Party (), also known simply as the Conservative Party, is a political party founded in 2017 that operates in

Rojava Rojava may refer to: * Syrian Kurdistan, also known as Rojava, the geographical region where Kurds historically settled within present-day Syria * Democratic Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria The Democratic Autonomous Administ ...

, a de facto

autonomous region An autonomous administrative division (also referred to as an autonomous area, zone, entity, unit, region, subdivision, province, or territory) is a subnational administrative division or territory, internal territory of a sovereign state that has ...

in northeastern

Syria Syria, officially the Syrian Arab Republic, is a country in West Asia located in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Levant. It borders the Mediterranean Sea to the west, Turkey to Syria–Turkey border, the north, Iraq to Iraq–Syria border, t ...

History

The Democratic Conservative Party emerged in the context of the Syrian Civil War. In course of this conflict, the Syrian government lost control of the country's northeast, where the mostly Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD) assumed power. It founded an unrecognized

proto-state A quasi-state (sometimes referred to as a state-like entity or formatively a proto-state) is a political entity that does not represent a fully autonomous sovereign state with its own institutions. The precise definition of ''quasi-state'' in po ...

, widely known as "

", with its own constitution, government, and military. In order to safeguard and expand this proto-state and gain recognition and acceptance among the region's population of Kurds, Arabs, and other ethnic as well as religious groups, the PYD forged alliances with other regional actors. One of the PYD's most important allies was the Syrian branch of the

Shammar The tribe of Shammar () is a tribal Arab Qahtanite confederation, descended from the Tayy, which migrated into the northern Arabian Peninsula from Yemen in the second century. It is the largest branch of the Tayy, and one of the largest and mos ...

tribe, led by Humaydi Daham al-Hadi. He organized a tribal militia, known as Army of Dignity and later

al-Sanadid Forces The Forces of the Brave (), generally called the al-Sanadid Forces, is a militia formed by the Arab Shammar tribe to fight against the Islamic State. Even though the tribe's Syrian strongholds are mostly in the Jazira Canton of the Autonomous Adm ...

, to fight alongside the PYD's armed wings (

YPG The People's Defense Units (YPG), also called People's Protection Units, is a libertarian socialist US-backed Kurdish militant group in Syria and the primary component of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF). The YPG mostly consists of K ...

/ YPJ) against other militant groups during the civil war. In August 2017, Humaydi Daham al-Hadi met at

Qamishli Qamishli is a city in northeastern Syria on the Syria–Turkey border, adjoining the city of Nusaybin in Turkey. The Jaghjagh River flows through the city. With a 2004 census population of 184,231, it is the List of cities in Syria, ninth most-po ...

with representatives of several Arab tribes that lived in Rojava's

Jazira Region The Jazira Region, formerly Jazira Canton (; ; ), is the largest of the three original regions of the de facto Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES). As part of the ongoing Rojava conflict, its democratic autonomy was off ...

. Anticipating the upcoming regional elections, the tribal representatives agreed to organize a party which they dubbed the "Democratic Conservative Party" with the motto "Syria is a homeland for all Syrians." Humaydi Daham al-Hadi was chosen as secretary general, and Akram Mahshoush, a

Jubur Jubur (, also spelled Jebour, Jibour, Jubour, Jabur, Jaburi, Jebouri, and Jabara) is the largest Arab tribe in Iraq that scattered throughout central Iraq. Part of the tribe settled in Hawija and Kirkuk in the eighteenth century. Al-Jiburi, alon ...

tribal leader, was appointed deputy secretary general. The party participated in the regional elections of December 2017 as part of the PYD-led Democratic Nation List. Since then, the party established a presence throughout the Jazira Region, such as at al-Qahtaniyah, but also in other areas including

Raqqa Raqqa (, also , Kurdish language, Kurdish: ''Reqa'') is a city in Syria on the North bank of the Euphrates River, about east of Aleppo. It is located east of the Tabqa Dam, Syria's largest dam. The Hellenistic, Roman, and Byzantine city and b ...

. The party sent representatives to the "Meeting and Progress" Dialogue in late 2018, and the 2nd Middle East Youth Conference at

Kobanî Kobani, also Kobane, officially Ayn al-Arab, is a Kurdish-majority city in the Ayn al-Arab District in northern Syria, lying immediately south of the Syria–Turkey border. As a consequence of the Syrian civil war, the city came under the co ...

on 20 February 2019. It has repeatedly voiced support for talks between the northeastern administration under the PYD and the Syrian government, and has condemned the

Turkish occupation of northern Syria The Turkish Armed Forces and its ally the Syrian National Army have Turkish involvement in the Syrian Civil War, occupied areas of northern Syria since August 2016, during the Syrian civil war. Though these areas nominally acknowledge a governm ...

. In March 2020, the Democratic Conservative Party was one of 31 parties which signed a statement rebuffing President

Bashar al-Assad Bashar al-Assad (born 11September 1965) is a Syrian politician, military officer and former dictator Sources characterising Assad as a dictator: who served as the president of Syria from 2000 until fall of the Assad regime, his government ...

's claim that the ruling elements in northeastern Syria did not represent the area's majority.

References

Works cited

* {{Cite journal , url = https://www.ctc.usma.edu/v2/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/CTC-Sentinel_Vol10Iss6-4.pdf , title = The Battle for Raqqa and the Challenges after Liberation , author = Hassan Hassan , date = 2017 , journal = CTC Sentinel , publisher =

Combating Terrorism Center The Combating Terrorism Center is an academic institution at the United States Military Academy (USMA) in West Point, New York that provides education, research and policy analysis in the specialty areas of terrorism, counterterrorism, homeland ...

, issue = 6 , volume = 10 , location =

West Point, New York West Point is the oldest continuously occupied military post in the United States. Located on the Hudson River in New York (state), New York, General George Washington stationed his headquarters in West Point in the summer and fall of 1779 durin ...

, pages = 1–10 , access-date = 2017-06-28 , archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20171009202608/https://ctc.usma.edu/v2/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/CTC-Sentinel_Vol10Iss6-4.pdf , archive-date = 2017-10-09 , url-status=dead 2017 establishments in Syria Political parties established in 2017 Political parties in Syria Political parties in the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria Syrian democracy movements

History

See also

References

Works cited