WASHINGTON DC - United States lawmakers have urged Syrian interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa, during his visit to Washington DC, to safeguard the rights of Kurds and other minorities in Syria through the adoption of a decentralized system of governance.
In the first visit by a Syrian president to Washington DC in more than eight decades - since 1946 - Sharaa met with US President Donald Trump and members of Congress earlier this week.
Talks centered on Damascus’s request to lift crippling sanctions imposed on the country, particularly the Caesar Act of 2019, as well as Syria’s potential participation in the US-led Global Coalition to Defeat the Islamic State (ISIS).
Among those who met with Sharaa was Republican Representative Marlin Stutzman, a member of Trump’s party, who emphasized the importance of ensuring equal rights for Syria’s ethnic and religious communities - including the Kurds - and upholding their calls for decentralization.
"The Kurds have been allies of the United States for a long time. They are our friends, as well as the Druze in the southeastern part of the country," Stutzman told Rudaw, adding, "It is important for President Sharaa to recognize the Kurds contribution to recognize what the Druze bring to the country."
"I believe that there should be some sort of federalist system in Syria so that the Kurds can govern their state or province," he said.
Since the fall of longtime Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad in early December, Syria’s Kurdish, Alawite and Druze communities have been advocating for decentralization, citing decades of repression under the Assad-led Baath regime and the violence against minorities that followed the regime’s collapse.
While the transitional government initially rejected any form of decentralization, it later softened its tone. Najeeb Ghadban, Advisor to Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shaibani, confirmed to Rudaw in early October that “there is openness” in Damascus to the idea of decentralization.
Stutzman’s stance reflects a broader sentiment among members of Congress who believe Syria’s future stability depends on protecting its diverse communities.
Republican Representative French Hill, Chairman of the House Financial Services Committee and Co-Chair of the US-Syria Friendship Group, echoed these calls, urging the Trump administration to ensure that Syria’s post-war governance represents all of its people.
"I hope that President Trump will keep in mind the need to protect religious minorities in the country," Hill said, adding that "the Kurds" and all groups across the country "can together and have a coalition government where they share responsibility to have security for the Syrian people."
Following his meeting with Sharaa, President Trump reaffirmed his country’s commitment to "making Syria successful” as part of broader efforts to promote peace in the Middle East.
“We'll do everything we can to make Syria successful because it's part of the Middle East,” adding that the region now enjoys “peace… for the first time that anyone can remember,” Trump told reporters at the Oval Office.