Politics The end of Kurdish self-government in Syria
It was a political role model, an anchor of identity for Kurds worldwide, a beacon of hope in the Kurdish quest for their own state: the Kurdish self-government in the north and north-east of Syria. In the course of the Syrian transitional government's offensive against the once Kurdish-controlled areas, the autonomous administration known as "Rojava" is now on the brink of collapse.
23.01.2026, 09:23
23.01.2026, 09:24
SDA
How did this happen? And what does this mean for the balance of power in the new Syria?
Who are the Kurds?
The Kurds are one of the largest peoples without their own state. Their total number is estimated at around 35 million people. There are no exact figures. They live mainly in countries such as Turkey, Iran, Iraq and Syria.
The Kurds are the largest ethnic minority group in Syria. They were already widely discriminated against during the time of the overthrown Assad government. Many of them did not have Syrian citizenship.
During the Syrian civil war, they fought alongside the US-led international coalition in the fight against the Islamic State (IS) terrorist militia. This enabled them to take over large areas. There they set up their own self-government. There is also a Kurdish-controlled autonomous area in Iraq, the Kurdistan Region.
What is happening now?
Today, the project of self-determination in Syria appears to be on the brink of collapse. In recent days and weeks, government troops have advanced rapidly into the Kurdish-controlled areas, pushing the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), the military arm of the self-government, further and further into retreat. A ceasefire is now in place. The Kurds have been given four days. They are to draw up a plan to integrate further Kurdish institutions into the state apparatus. The deadline ends on Saturday evening.
The transitional government in Damascus and the Kurdish leadership had actually already agreed on the integration of Kurdish institutions in March. The agreement was never implemented. Damascus finally took military action and brought more and more areas under its control. The aim is to unite the country under a central government after years of division.
What role does the USA play?
The rapid advance of the government troops was recently made possible above all by a rebalancing of US interests. "Washington has a new partner in Damascus," military expert Riad Kahwadschi told the German Press Agency. While the USA still relied on the SDF as a partner on the ground during the Assad era, US President Donald Trump sees the new head of state, Ahmed al-Sharaa, as a strategic partner. His special envoy Tom Barrack makes it abundantly clear: the original purpose of the SDF, to act as the primary anti-IS force on the ground, has become obsolete, he recently wrote on X. Damascus is now both willing and able to assume security responsibility. Kurdish representatives, for their part, feel abandoned.
Observers even assume that the USA has "sold out" the Kurds. The Trump administration is striving for normalization between Syria and the US ally Israel. According to Kurdish sources, the USA had condoned the advance against the Kurds. In return, it was said that interim President al-Sharaa would probably agree to a peace process with Israel, which had previously been an enemy. There is no official information on this.
And Turkey?
Turkey is and remains a key factor in the developments in Syria. It is a close ally of the leadership in Damascus. The Turkish government sees the SDF as an offshoot of the banned Kurdish Workers' Party (PKK). The Turkish state has been taking action against them for decades and has classified them as a terrorist organization. Turkey itself has also attacked SDF positions in Syria on several occasions.
The fact that the USA supported the SDF for years strained relations between Ankara and Washington. Now their interests in Syria are overlapping, said Kahwadschi. When Trump received the Syrian interim president al-Sharaa in Washington in November, Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan was also present. According to the military expert, the interests were clarified there and everyone came to a common position.
According to Turkish media, Ankara supported the advance of the Syrian army against the SDF with intelligence information, among other things. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has been following the events closely. He has already triumphantly declared: "The era of terrorism in our region is over."
What next for the Kurds?
The Kurds in Syria are now in "a political prison", Lawk Ghafuri, an analyst focusing on Kurdish regions, told dpa. "Military strength alone cannot secure their future," he said. Dialogue with Damascus is the only way forward. The future of the Kurds now depends on how they are treated by Damascus in the coming months and years.
Al-Sharaa has repeatedly shown itself willing to grant the Kurds more rights in recent months. The Kurdish representation, on the other hand, does not trust the government. It sees the new leadership in Damascus as a kind of offshoot of IS and accuses it of also using its brutal methods.
Other residents of the self-administration, on the other hand, celebrate the government's offensive as a "liberation". Not only Kurds live in the Kurdish-administered areas, but also Arabs and tribal groups. They themselves felt discriminated against under Kurdish control and had been forced to fight for the SDF, said Mudar al-Asaad, official spokesman for the Syrian tribes.
