“People want to control their own destiny, and yet they also want to be part of greater Syria,” said former US diplomat Peter Galbraith on Thursday, urging meaningful inclusion of Syria’s Kurds in the country’s future during his speech at the Sulaymaniyah Forum in Iraq’s Kurdistan Region.
Speaking at the annual international gathering, Galbraith sharply criticised the government formation efforts of Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) leader Ahmed al-Sharaa, also known as al-Julani, in Damascus, warning that symbolic gestures fall far short of genuine representation. “If Sharaa wants to be inclusive, he should include people from these other communities, not just some Kurd who he chooses,” he said.
Galbraith, who has long worked on Kurdish affairs, underscored that inclusivity must be rooted in legitimacy and self-representation. “If you want to have a Kurd or several Kurdish ministers, you ask the people in northeast Syria to choose who they are. You don’t choose it,” he said, comparing the situation to post-2003 Iraq, where Kurds selected their own representatives to participate in Baghdad’s central government.
The former US ambassador painted a clear picture of what a federal or autonomous structure could look like for Syria’s Kurdish regions, grounded in international norms. “They would want to retain their current institutions, the autonomous administration, their current rules, gender equality,” Galbraith said, emphasising that such demands are not radical. “These are very normal things in a federal system… It’s what exists in the United States.”
He stressed that local control over education, policing, security forces and the economy are basic features of decentralised governance and should be recognised as such in any future Syrian settlement. Drawing comparisons to US federalism, he explained, “There are different rules for divorce, different systems of taxation, different legal codes in American states. And the police is local.”
Galbraith’s remarks come amid growing concerns that the fragile calm in northeastern Syria could collapse if local Kurdish governance is not recognised in Damascus’s future plans. Though he refrained from prescribing a specific political model, Galbraith clearly backed the right of Syrian Kurds to self-determination and genuine political inclusion.
The diplomat’s remarks also implied a broader message to international actors involved in the Syrian crisis. Without acknowledging the self-administration in North and East Syria and engaging its chosen representatives, he suggested, there can be no sustainable peace or stability.
Galbraith’s speech at the Sulaymaniyah Forum adds to ongoing debates about federalism, inclusivity and the Kurdish question, not only in Syria but across the region. As the future of the country remains uncertain, calls for a settlement that respects Kurdish agency are growing louder.
