Syria’s National Dialogue Conference to kick off Tuesday

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Syria’s National Dialogue’s preparatory committee said on Sunday that they will begin sending invitations to people to attend the event later in the day, adding that the conference is set to kick off on Tuesday.

“Today invitations will be sent to those who are set to take part in the conference,” one of the members of the five-member committee told Rudaw’s Dilkhwaz Mohammed in a press conference in Damascus. 

He also said that they will receive Syrians who are living abroad and attending the event on Monday - one day before the event. 

The committee held tens of meetings in all provinces attended by 4,000 women and men from various backgrounds, another member of the committee said at the presser. 

The committee on Thursday met with several people from Hasaka province in Damascus and appointed them as representatives of the province. Hasaka is located in the Kurdish-administered northeast (Rojava). Representatives of Kurdish parties were not invited.

However, some Kurds who took part in the meeting said they did not represent Kurds. 

“Those who are participating here have come on their own behalf and do not represent the Kurds,” Ahmad Hilal, a Kurdish activist from Hasaka, told Rudaw.

The Kurdish National Council (ENKS/KNC), an umbrella of opposition parties, in a statement on Thursday said that the national dialogue is key to shaping the country's future, but condemned the marginalization of Kurdish political parties from the process.

Other Kurdish parties and the Kurdish-held authorities in Rojava have also condemned their exclusion.